On the recordFebruary 1, 2011
I join him in urging repeal and replacement of this health care bill. It has to do with just one of the many burdensome new mandates. In this bill, as we know, there are mandates on individuals to purchase insurance, for example, as my colleague was just saying. There are mandates on families and companies and mandates on States as well. I wish to talk about the mandate on States, with respect to the Medicaid provisions of the bill, which is called the maintenance of effort mandate or MOE mandate. Let me describe what that is. The maintenance of effort requirement forces an unfunded Medicaid mandate on States by denying them the full ability to manage their Medicaid Programs to fit their own budgets and their own unique Medicaid populations. This is a huge problem because Arizona, along with most other States, is experiencing a dire budget crisis. Our State has lost over 300,000 jobs in the last few years, and revenue collections are down by 34 percent since the start of the recession.
