Ohio State Treasurer sent a letter on Monday to Ohio house speaker William Batchelder and Senate President Keith Faber urging them to “reject an expansion of Medicaid in Ohio.” Mandel has been a strong opponent of Obamacare, publicly speaking out against at many gatherings and events before and after his candidacy for treasurer. We praise Mandel for taking a stand on the issue and re-introducing some fiscal conservatism into the Medicaid conversation, which seems to be lost on others in our state government who only seem to be looking as far forward as their next election rather than what the Medicaid expansion will do to future generations. Below is the text of Mandel’s letter, and you can view a PDF of the original letter here.
Please take a moment to write a thank you letter to Josh Mandel.
February 11, 2013
Honorable William Batchelder
Honorable Keith Faber
The Ohio Statehouse
1 Capitol Square
Columbus, Ohio 43215
Dear Speaker Batchelder and President Faber,
As Treasurer of Ohio, I am charged as the state’s chief fiscal officer with the duty of overseeing the collection, disbursement and safekeeping of public funds. Simply put, I act as a fiscal watchdog of Ohioans’ hard-earned tax dollars. It is with my fiscal duties in mind that I write today and urge you to prudently consider the long-term financial implications of voluntarily implementing the Medicaid expansion in Ohio and to reject this expansion during the budget process.
Though the federal government is promising to pay for most of the expansion in the near term, it is currently borrowing approximately 40 cens of every dollar is spends. I am concerned that expanding Medicaid in Ohio will overwhelm an already broken system and place an unbearable burden on generations of Ohioans.
I appreciate that you are being forced to choose between two undesirable options – because the Affordable Care Act (also known as “Obamacare”) was designed this way. Voting against the Medicaid expansion means that Ohio would receive less federal funding. Voting for the Medicaid expansion would, as I have described, burden current and future generations of Ohioans with even more federal debt and eventually increase the state’s funding of Medicaid. While the proposed “opt-out” trigger is a well-intentioned safeguard to retract Medicaid’s expansion if the federal government reduces its funding share, I am concerned whether such a safeguard would be honored in the future, because history has shown that once a government benefit is given it is rarely taken away.
There is no free money. While expanding Medicaid may direct more federal dollars to Ohio in the next few years, in the long term Ohioans will have to repay the debt that is funding the federal government spending. The federal government has an approximate $16.4 trillion national debt, and entitlement spending alone is projected to consume all revenue by 2045. If Ohio’s leaders take the bait today, I fear that generations of Ohio taxpayers will be on the hook for the long-term costs of expanding Medicaid.
As Ohioans, we share a common fate with all Americans. Whether taxes by the state or federal government, the Ohio taxpayers will inevitably shoulder the costs of a debt-funded Medicaid expansion. For these reasons, I urge you to reject an expansion of Medicaid in Ohio.
Sincerely,
Josh Mandel
State Treasurer of Ohio
cc: Governor John Kasich
Members of the Ohio General Assembly
Other Resources
Mandel: Don’t expand Medicaid | Columbus Dispatch
Treasurer Josh Mandel urges lawmakers to reject Kasich’s recommendation to expand Medicaid | Cleveland Plain Dealer
I wonder if Mandel would run against Kasich in 2014? Probably not, but he has state-wide name ID.
I would LOVE if Mandel would run against Kasich! I wish he would have taken Brown out, but the unions still have too much say in OH. I’ve called Kasich about this, but I’m sure my comments fell on deaf ears. IMHO, he was looking at Barry Soetoro’s “win” in OH and decided to go more left than Conservative. What’s happening to Ohio? A once great state, now unfortunately a liberal cesspool.
Don’t just give your opinions everyone. Get involved. Join a local Tea Party or Ohio Liberty Coalition. OLC set up a meeting with Barbara Sears offering alternatives to the expansion. As it turns out, she says legislators are holding this expansion up, they are looking at other state’s programs Maine has tried it and found it to be unsustainable. They are going to Texas to see what they are planning. So they are working on it. Write your State Reps as well as Kasich. Educate people around you.
The people of OHIO don’t want this! We voted 60%-40% against Obamacare and forced health care. What more do these elected officials want? Notarized in blood?!??!
Theresa, the sad truth is that most of our state elected officials don’t represent “the people of Ohio,” they represent the various companies and special interests that fund their campaigns and they represent their own personal interests. They generally act based upon what they believe is their best shot at reelection and at moving up the political food chain to a better job. The only way to get their attention is to make them fear the people, vis-a-vis, that they will be thrown out of office in the next election. So, the 60%+ of Ohioans who voted for the Healthcare Freedom Amendment need to vote out Kasich – hopefully in the May 2014 Republican Primary (somebody run, PLEASE!) – and any Republican who works and votes for Medicaid expansion.
The tea parties are growing, but we still have a long way to go to undo the damage that’s been done by the wimps that are afraid to stand tall and the secular Christians that hold an office for the God fearing. But proof of us still in the running is by the mere fact that Josh Mandel is there. We must get others of like mind in office. If you vote with a Christian heart and not a “fill my pocket book” mind. These wimps will be replaced with someone with backbone. We must convince the non-voting Christians that there is still hope and they must vote. For everyone else, if you don’t stand for something, you have proven that you’ll fall for anything.
Thank you Josh Mandel for standing up for the majority of the residents of Ohio. We must get this changed. Ohioians voted overwhelmingly “NO” to the Obamacare issue and now our Gov. has becom buddies with them. Go figure. We MUST change that at the ballot.
Thanks Mr. Mandel for standing against the Medicaid expansion. I am really disappointed in our Governor who does not see it the same way as you.
Thank you Josh Mandel. We appreciate your conservative stand even when it may not be the same as other Republican leaders. I will vote for conservative ideals that denounce socialism and not just a Republican on the ticket. There needs to be defined differences in the political parties.