As the 2024 legislative session approaches, we thought it would be a good time to remind lawmakers that expanding Medicaid in Alabama remains a terrible idea.

Recently, House Speaker Nathaniel Ledbetter (R-Rainsville) said he plans to have a “conversation” about health care disparities. You better not hear that Medicaid expansion was part of that conversation.

The “coverage gap” means that eligible adults with children cannot be more than 18 percent above the poverty line to qualify for Medicaid. Many Democrats and Alabama media commentators are using this issue to push for Medicaid expansion. So far, Republicans in Congress have not fallen into the trap, and they hope the situation remains the same this year.

A key reason Republican lawmakers typically oppose expanding entitlement programs is that it could cost the state millions of dollars down the road. That's true, but that's not the biggest problem.

When the Affordable Care Act (also known as Obamacare) was passed in 2010, Medicaid expansion became an option for states. The bill was supposed to reduce domestic health care costs, but it did nothing to achieve that goal. Instead, it simply passed the cost on to taxpayers.

American medical costs are rising higher and faster more than most industries over the past 20 years. Medical prices have increased by 110% since 2000, and hospital charges have increased by 7.2% since January 2021.

These rising costs are forcing more people to use Medicaid or find subsidized insurance on the Obamacare exchanges.In fact, this year Americans recorded 21.3 million The number of people enrolled in the Obamacare exchanges is up nearly 5 million from last year and nearly double the number in 2020. All of that is paid for by additional subsidies for programs under the American Rescue Plan Act and anti-inflation programs. Activities. So, again, it doesn't actually reduce costs, it just adds to the burden on American taxpayers.

It is becoming clearer each day that the purpose of this law is not to actually reduce costs, but rather to be a stepping stone to a government-controlled and paid-for health care system.

I know President Joe Biden and other Democrats think it's a good thing that more people rely on the government for health care, but I don't think so. Instead, the focus should be on implementing free market reforms to the health care system that actually reduce costs for the private sector.

Although most reforms will need to be made at the federal level, there are things Congress can do immediately to address this issue. The first step is to abolish the Needs Certification Commission, whose sole purpose is to stifle competition, limit health care delivery, and raise costs for consumers. Expanding price transparency is another example of free market reforms that could help.

Of course, one of the biggest solutions to this problem is to continue to create an economic environment in our state that attracts businesses and creates higher-paying jobs. Medicaid expansion could do the opposite, discouraging many people from moving up the economic ladder and losing government benefits.

If Alabama decides to expand Medicaid, it will only become more dependent on the government. This will inevitably result in increased costs for consumers and taxpayers at both the federal and state levels.

If Alabama's leaders truly believed in free-market conservative solutions, they wouldn't feed the ever-growing government beast that is Obamacare.

Yaffee is a contributor to Yellowhammer News and hosts “The Yaffee Program” weekdays from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. WVNN. You can follow him on Twitter @Yaffee