Political Quotes

“No. 1, Senator Barrasso, who is an orthopedic surgeon, has been a great addition to the Republican conference and to the Senate as a whole. He is a doctor and has practiced medicine longer than he has been in politics, I am sure, and he sees this problem from the physician's point of view, from the patient's point of view. And our Presiding Officer was recently a Governor. Here is what my Governor is telling me: that Medicaid is a program that needs to be reformed, not expanded the way we are doing it. The second largest expense to the State budget in South Carolina is Medicaid matching money. For those who are home who may be watching, Medicaid is a program for low-income Americans. It is a Federal program and a State program, but it is a Federal Government mandate that if you reach a certain income level, you are eligible for Medicaid services to be administered by the States. But, quite frankly, the flexibility the States have is very limited, and this bill, the Obama health care bill, expands Medicaid eligibility to the point that 29 percent of the people in South Carolina would be Medicaid eligible. Our State has an $850 million shortfall in our budget. I think Wyoming is in pretty good shape, but I think we are probably closer to the average State. We have had a dramatic decrease in revenues, and the cost of complying with the Medicaid expansion in this bill would be $1 billion to a State that cannot afford it. I am sure West Virginia is very similar.…”