$3.5T Democratic budget plan includes Medicaid expansion. Here's what it means for SC

Jul. 15—COLUMBIA, S.C. — South Carolina could finally see Medicaid expanded under a budget proposal Senate Democrats have agreed to.

The $3.5 trillion budget deal reached by Senate Democrats this week includes money to expand Medicaid in states that haven't expanded the program under the Affordable Care Act.

Details have yet to be released of how that would be done, but the aim would be to go around the state governments, mostly in the south, including South Carolina, that have not expanded Medicaid.

"I think that it achieves what we've been working on for some time now," US Rep. Jim Clyburn, D-Columbia, the House majority whip told reporters Wednesday.

The expansion was meant to cover people with incomes too high to qualify for Medicaid, but too low to qualify for savings in the health insurance marketplace.

Expanding Medicaid in the state would cover an additional 188,000 adults, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation analysis of 2019 American Community Survey data.

The American Rescue Plan Act also included incentives for state governments to expand the health insurance program for needy people but South Carolina has declined to take the money because the additional funding would disappear after two years.

Under the COVID-19 relief package adopted in March, South Carolina would have received $790 million a year in additional federal assistance to expand Medicaid, and would only have to kick in $190 million a year for a net increase of $600 million pumped into the South Carolina economy.

Clyburn said Medicaid also helps people who need nursing home care.

"You can be middle income and you got a parent or grandparent in need of medical care and you got to pay out of pocket for nursing home care, you won't be middle income long," Clyburn said. "Don't let anybody fool you. If we're not expanding Medicaid that means we're not expanding assistance for nursing home care."

Clyburn said he's determined to get Medicaid expanded in the state by having the federal government directly provide the benefit in states where the program hasn't been expanded.

"I can tell you right now, this will pass the House. I'm the vote counter," Clyburn said. "It's my job to get to 218. I can tell you right now, we're going to get to 218 in the House."

Republicans have already signaled they will be against the $3.5 trillion deal.

U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-Seneca, who is the ranking Republican on the Senate Budget Committee, said the proposed resolution will lead to higher taxes, reckless spending and could hurt the economy.

Graham in a statement said Democrats are using the desire to have an infrastructure deal as an excuse to expand government.

"This proposal is not about infrastructure," Graham said in a statement. "It's about expanding the role of government in our lives from cradle to grave. This is about a massive tax increase that will stifle economic recovery. It is about liberal wish list spending that will stoke the fires of inflation."

"Count me in for real infrastructure. Count me out for a tax-and-spend plan from Hell," Graham added.

Gov. Henry McMaster, who has been against expanding Medicaid, said the federal government should invest in infrastructure and growing the economy.

"I think the better thing is to put money into roads, bridges, economic growth and development," McMaster told reporters Thursday. "The best welfare program is a job. People who work, earning a living statistically we know are healthier, wealthier and wiser and that is the direction in which we need to be going."

Reporter Maayan Schechter contributed to this article.

___

(c)2021 The State (Columbia, S.C.)

Visit The State (Columbia, S.C.) at www.thestate.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.