On Sunday, Governor Bobby Jindal (R-La.) sat down with Meet the Press moderator Chuck Todd on Sunday, November 16 and was repeatedly hit from the left over his refusal to expand Medicaid as part of ObamaCare.
Todd began the interview by asking Jindal “but obviously, expanding Medicaid coverage, you'd have more people off of the uninsured roles in Louisiana if you did it. Why aren't you doing it?”
As the interview progressed, the NBC News Political Director falsely claimed that Medicaid “would cost your state nothing. In fact, look, you've got your own fiscal problems right now with the deficit issue. You'd have more money from the federal government. They're paying for it. It's not going to cost Louisiana taxpayers any extra state money. Why not do it while the law is enacted?”
For his part, the Republican governor dismissed Todd’s claim that expanding Medicaid wouldn’t cost Louisiana anything:
One of the things I love is when Democrats say, "Oh, this is free money." This is not free money. Every dollar we don't spend on Medicaid is another dollar we don't have to borrow from China. This is the reason we've gotten nearly $18 trillion in debt. Louisiana taxpayers are federal taxpayers. These are federal tax dollars. Why waste these tax dollars? We've got to stop acting in this city like all of this money is free money.
Rather than concede Governor Jindal’s point, Todd continued to hammer his guest and tried to get the Republican to criticize his fellow GOP governors:
I mean, you look at in Indiana. So why is, I guess, John Kasich wrong? Why is Mike Pence of Indiana wrong? Mike Pence did get the federal government to approve a much different plan. Why not negotiate with the government and do something that you want to do?
Todd’s eagerness to hit Jindal from the left on Medicaid expansion was in stark contrast to how he tested Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell. During his questioning of the Obama official, the Meet the Press moderator lamented how the Obama administration had failed to sell the so-called successes of ObamaCare:
Let me ask if you if you guys have, the uninsured rate has dropped by 25%. The average premium has gone down for 2015. There's Medicare solvency has increased. So a bunch of good news. And yet the public's opinion about the healthcare law hasn't changed one bit. Still more people think it's a bad idea than a good idea. Why is that? Why hasn't success translated?
See relevant transcript below.
NBC’s Meet The Press
November 16, 2014
CHUCK TODD: And now joining me since the Affordable Care Act was implemented, 23 states have not expanded Medicaid to help cover low-income individuals, leaving 3.8 million in a so-called coverage gap where their income is above Medicaid eligibility limits, but below the threshold for marketplace premium tax credit. Why does it matter?
Let me show you an example in two states. Arkansas did expand Medicaid coverage. They saw their uninsured rate decrease by 46%. Next door in Louisiana, which did not expand Medicaid coverage, the uninsured rate was only reduced by 15%. So to talk about this and some other things, I'm joined now by the Governor of Louisiana, Republican Bobby Jindal. Governor, welcome back to Meet the Press.
GOV. BOBBY JINDAL: Chuck, thank you for having me.
TODD: Let's go right there to that number. You look at Arkansas, your neighbor to the north. I know you don't want to talk about Arkansas right now considering what happened with LSU last night. But obviously, expanding Medicaid coverage, you'd have more people off of the uninsured roles in Louisiana if you did it. Why aren't you doing it?
JINDAL: Chuck, look. Democrats and Republicans both want to help the vulnerable, want to help people get affordable, high-quality healthcare. Medicaid is not the right way to do it. The problem with expanding Medicaid, the problem with the Affordable Care Act, the problem with ObamaCare, is that it chooses a top-down, closed approach, where the government is running your healthcare.
Medicaid's already a program with bad healthcare outcomes. You look at the Oregon study, they showed by expanding Medicaid, there was no improvement in physical outcomes. It was a program designed to take care of the disabled, of vulnerable children. It was never designed to be there for able-bodied adults. By expanding and creating a new entitlement when we can't afford the ones we've already got, the Affordable Care Act, the president basically is doubling down on a failed approach for providing healthcare. There's a better way to help those uninsured.
TODD: Here's the thing though. It would cost your state nothing. In fact, look, you've got your own fiscal problems right now with the deficit issue. You'd have more money from the federal government. They're paying for it. It's not going to cost Louisiana taxpayers any extra state money. Why not do it while the law is enacted?
JINDAL: So, look, two things. Chuck, I'm glad you asked that. One of the things I love is when Democrats say, "Oh, this is free money." This is not free money. Every dollar we don't spend on Medicaid is another dollar we don't have to borrow from China. This is the reason we've gotten nearly $18 trillion in debt.
Louisiana taxpayers are federal taxpayers. These are federal tax dollars. Why waste these tax dollars? We've got to stop acting in this city like all of this money is free money. Secondly, secondly, when you look at the best way to help folks, it is to decrease the cost of healthcare. I’ve proposed a detailed plan to repeal and replace ObamaCare. If the president were really serious, why not give states more flexibility? Why not go to states and say--
TODD: But he has. I mean, you look at in Indiana. So why is, I guess, John Kasich wrong? Why is Mike Pence of Indiana wrong? Mike Pence did get the federal government to approve a much different plan. Why not negotiate with the government and do something that you want to do?
JINDAL: In Louisiana, if we were to expand Medicaid, it would cost my taxpayers $1.7 billion over ten years. For every uninsured person we'd cover, oh, we'd have to kick more than one person out of private insurance. Now, think about that. I know that this president likes to define success as more people dependent on the government. I would have to take over 200,000 out of private insurance and put them into Medicaid. To me, that's a huge mistake.
TODD: Yeah, but you have 200,000 not insured at all, though.
JINDAL: Well, but no, I'm saying for every uninsured person you're covering, you're taking more than another person out of private insurance. In Louisiana in particular, we inherited a decades-old public hospital system, unlike other states. We're the only state, we had ten state-operated hospitals. Through the private sector, public/private partnerships, we've actually improved healthcare access and outcomes.
For one example, it used to take ten days to get a prescription filled, now you can get it done in ten minutes. Through Bayou Health, we reformed our program, we had before 5% of our adults were getting preventive care screenings, now over 80% of our-- Chuck, my point is this. There are better ways to provide healthcare to the vulnerable, to the uninsured. The answer's not for the government to be running healthcare. The answer is not to expand a failed program, a one-size-fits-all approach like Medicaid.
TODD: You think Medicaid's a total failure?
JINDAL: No, I think Medicaid--
TODD: But why do you implement any of it?
JINDAL: I think Medicaid, when it was targeted for the disabled, for children, in Louisiana, we cover, over 95% of our children have coverage. I think that it can be improved with more flexibility. Oregon, the Harvard-- now, this wasn't a conservative study. The Harvard study showed when you expanded Medicaid after two years in Oregon, there was no improvement of physical healthcare outcomes. Simply giving people a card without giving them access to healthcare, to doctors, to hospitals doesn't improve anything.
