Medicaid will bankrupt every state if we don’t have cost controls: Mike Huckabee

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee raised concerns about the Republican health care bill in the Senate and its potential impact on Medicaid, telling the FOX Business Network’s Stuart Varney, “What is the end game here?  And if the end game is to save money then the Republicans might be on the right track, but that’s not the end game that Donald Trump campaigned on and it is not the end game Americans care most about.”

Huckabee said Americans want “access to affordable and reasonable, realistic health care.” But he says the GOP has to be more honest about the financial impact of the bill, saying, “I think Republicans are going to have to suck it up and say, ‘This isn’t going to get a lot cheaper, it can’t, it won’t.”

Huckabee also raised concerns about the challenges facing Americans enrolled in Medicaid programs.

“How many people out there in the states who now have been enrolled in Medicaid-related programs are not going to be able to access them?”

Huckabee then warned about the financial impact on states across the country from the costs of Medicaid under the health care bill.

“Unless you give some cost controls on the Medicaid program it will bankrupt every state.”

But despite putting more of the financial burden of Medicaid on the states, they are aren’t given any more flexibility.

“The feds basically in the Senate bill are washing their hands of Medicaid and saying to the states, ‘good luck, we’re going to give you a sliding scale, less money, but you still have all of the responsibilities and we’re not going to give you the level of flexibility.”

On the other hand, Huckabee sees governors as willing to accept less money for Medicaid in exchange for greater flexibility.

I guarantee you every governor in America would take less money if they were given great levels of flexibility to meet the needs of their individual populations, that is a real fix.”