On the recordJuly 24, 2012
Thank you, Dr. DesJarlais. I appreciate your yielding. In fact, Medicaid is going to destroy the Federal budget and create a total economic collapse of America if we don't change it from the present system. That's before ObamaCare even takes place and markedly expands the States having to cover many more people, as my good friend from Maryland, Dr. Harris, was just explaining. But there are alternatives. Hopefully, we can repeal ObamaCare and replace it with something that makes sense. But there is a solution today. And, in fact, the Republican Study Committee, several us in the Republican Study Committee--Jim Jordan, our chairman, Todd Rokita, Tim Huelskamp, and I--introduced the State Health Flexibility Act, which would freeze Medicaid spending at the current level and will block grant those funds to the States with no strings attached. Not only for Medicaid, but also for the State Child Health Insurance Program. And what the States would do is utilize those funds in any manner that they want to. If they want to do drug testing on Medicaid or SCHIP recipients, they can. They can organize the program any way they want to, which is going to be the solution because it freezes spending at current levels.
