Ronald Reagan would expand Medicaid, and so should Tennessee | Opinion

Recently Tennessee’s House of Representatives passed a resolution honoring former President Ronald Reagan and denouncing socialism. 

As someone who was raised by my grandfather, a conservative newspaper printer, I also have respect for Reagan. My first political memory was secretly staying up all night, listening to my radio under the covers to see if Reagan, who my grandfather supported for president, would win. 

Years later in a political communications class when the other students were delivering Bill Clinton speeches, I gave one by Reagan. When asked why by my professor, I said, “Because he was ‘The Great Communicator.’ ” 

I like Reagan and am happy to see Tennessee honor him. 

Where the Tennessee House went way wrong was using Reagan to explicitly imply that Medicaid expansion is a slippery slope toward socialism. 

Here’s a history lesson for the Republicans and seven Democrats who passed the resolution. 

Ronald Reagan once said, “While I am opposed to socialized medicine, I have always felt that medical care should be available to those who cannot otherwise afford it.” 

He backed up his words with action and expanded Medicaid four times. He can be credited with Tennessee’s Medicaid program covering children and pregnant mothers. 

Undoubtedly, Reagan would expand Medicaid in Tennessee, knowing there are 280,000 hard-working individuals who are in jobs that do not offer health insurance. Workers and students who make less than $12,000 a year and have no other option for health care need Medicaid. 

Medicaid expansion is consistent with Reagan’s pragmatic approach to health care that preserves state flexibility and limits the local economic impact of federal health care changes. 

Of course, much has changed since the 1980s. Health care costs have skyrocketed, and that needs to be addressed. Reagan was generally supportive of block grants, but what Tennessee legislators fail to tell the public is that there is no guarantee of increased coverage for Tennessee’s working poor. Tennesseans lose with block grants. 

Tennessee legislators, who are supposed to represent the best interests of all Tennesseans, are refusing resources for our state at the rate of $3.8 million dollars a day. There is no fiscal responsibility in that decision. 

Block grants would be a disaster for Tennessee. Not only would we be turning our back on veterans, students and small-business owners who would qualify for Medicaid under expansion, people already on Medicaid will be at risk of losing coverage because of spending caps. 

Block grants would fail to adjust for economic recession. According to Laura Berlind’s guest column in the Tennessean, Tennessee’s budget may not be recession ready, and it is difficult to predict how much money we’ll need when recession does come.  

During a recession, Medicaid provides much-needed coverage for people who lose employer insurance. Fortunately, the federal government acts as a fiscal partner to mitigate the negative impact from people in need of health coverage. 

Under a block grant, funding is capped and states would be left to face the full brunt of the crisis with potentially no federal financial support. The same would hold true in instances of natural disaster such as we saw in the Gatlinburg wildfires and Middle Tennessee floods. 

With our partners, we have worked very hard to reduce the number of uninsured Tennesseans from 14 percent to 9.5 percent. Instead of trying to improve our system for the 10 percent of people yet to find affordable coverage, it appears our legislators are trying to sabotage our progress. 

We agree with Reagan, who once said, “No one in this country should be denied medical care for lack of funds.” It’s time Tennessee joins the other 36 states, 17 of which are "red" states, and expand Medicaid.  

Jacy Warrell works with Tennessee Health Care Campaign, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit celebrating 30 years of advocating for access to affordable health care for Tennesseans. Twitter: @JacyWarrell