Only two authoritative,
publicly-released studies have occurred on this policy, both by the Department
of Health and Hospitals prior to Edwards’ inauguration, and only the first,
released in 2013, went into a year-by-year, component-by-component study of the
issue. It presented four scenarios that depended upon the rates of enrollment
of the uninsured population specifically newly eligible because of expansion, of
increased enrollment in other Medicaid programs because of the publicity
surrounding expansion, and of enrollment of the insured population from the
private sector switching now eligible to switch to Medicaid. A second
report a year later confirmed, utilizing data gathered from other states’
experiences, that the most costly scenario most closely fit reality. The
extremely detailed report predicted for the last half of 2016, when Edwards
wants to start the increased coverage, this would cost the state $38 million; by
2023, the state would pay an additional $373 million that year.
The public could access both
reports – until shortly after Edwards took office. Echoing the communist world when
a new regime would wipe away evidence from the previous, the reports
mysteriously disappeared from the DHH website, and now locatable online only through
other unrelated archiving sites. Two
months later came Edwards’ pronouncement that alleges a positive $142 million
dollar swing in the forecast impact from the first for the last half of this
year.
