After butchering his State’s Obamacare exchange, outgoing Governor Martin O’Malley is proving to be not just incompetent, but also a true hypocrite on health care. O’Malley has spent years criticizing Republican Governors for not expanding Medicaid in their states even when GOPers have told him that the Medicaid expansion could overwhelm their states’ budgets.
But when faced with a $400 million budget deficit during his last year in office (which he laughably tried to blame on Congress), Maryland’s Board of Public Works approved an O’Malley administration plan to cut more than $100 million earmarked for increased Medicaid funds as a result of Medicaid expansion, cuts that state health officials say “threaten the state’s ability to handle an influx of patients resulting from health care reform.”
Budget officials said at least $92 million of the cuts will include reducing reimbursements to Medicaid providers, as well as reductions to local government aid and shrinking higher education spending, the Baltimore Sun reported.
The proposed budget revisions include a cut to physicians’ evaluation and management reimbursement rate under Medicaid from 100 percent to 87 percent starting in April — a $9 million reduction. … The Department of Health and Mental Hygiene will see its $4.1 billion budget shrink by about $63.8 as a result of the 2 percent cuts.”
Looks like that’s the O’Malley way: criticize Republicans for not spending Medicaid money they don’t have, then stick your successor with the bill you can’t afford.
