On the recordDecember 3, 2015
I urge my colleagues to oppose this amendment. I refuse to ask more American taxpayers, who have sacrificed so much already, to satiate the boundless Washington appetite for spending. Spending on Medicaid has experienced a 137 percent increase from $200 billion in 2000 to $476 billion in 2014, and many expect those figures to increase. We all want individuals to have access to high quality health insurance. However, a 2011 study found that 31 percent of doctors are unwilling to accept new Medicaid patients. How can Americans access quality health care if doctors will not treat them? Most importantly, adding more people to Medicaid will lead to a loss of jobs. A 2013 study concluded that for every 21 million adults who joined Medicaid, the economy will employ 511,000 to 2.2 million fewer people. The Obama recovery is a jobless recovery, and I refuse to exacerbate the unemployment. Instead of adding more and more people to the rolls of a failing Medicaid program---- The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator's time has expired.
