On Aug. 18, the Legislative Council voted 10-1 to fund a lawsuit against Gov. Bill Walker. The purpose of the lawsuit is to challenge the governor's authority to expand Medicaid. As the only "no" vote on the decision, it is important for me to explain what this action means to Alaska. Challenging the governor's authority to expand Medicaid makes no sense when Alaska's attorney general and the Legislature's own legal department say the governor has the legal and constitutional authority to expand Medicaid.
Supporters of the lawsuit argue the action demonstrates a commitment to the legislative process, not the issue of Medicaid expansion, and Gov. Walker forced this decision. I respectfully disagree. A commitment to the legislative process is best demonstrated by holding hearings, allowing public participation, and having the policy debate about Medicaid expansion to happen in full view of the public. During our regular sessions last year and this year, and in this year's first special session called by Gov. Walker, Medicaid expansion legislation was introduced. During the special session, the House Finance Committee unilaterally tabled the bill, and refused to hear from the public, have further hearings, or allow a vote on the issue.
Suing the governor also does not make fiscal sense at a time when Alaska is facing significant budget deficits. Medicaid expansion is estimated to save the state over $6 million in the first year, bring over $140 million in federal funding to the state, and provide health-care coverage for up to 40,000 hard-working, low-income Alaskans. Cost savings are projected even when the state is required to contribute 10 percent of the program's cost. Spending $450,000 for the lawsuit, and estimating the governor will need to spend a similar amount to defend the suit, means about $1 million will not be available for other state responsibilities such as education. The Alaska government is already reducing spending and making cuts that affect people's jobs. The Legislative Council's decision to sue Gov. Walker is an unnecessary action that will further put pressure on Alaska's budget at a time when we can least afford it.
In Alaska we struggle with high health-care costs. Rather than suing the governor, we should be looking for solutions to some of our pressing health-care cost issues. In 2010 alone, 710,000 Alaskans spent $7.5 billion on health care. Health-care costs continue to climb (increasing 40 percent from 2005 to 2010) with current models projecting these costs could more than double by 2020. In 2013, the total annual cost to provide health-care services to Alaskans exceeded $16,000 per Alaskan. In addition, health-care costs in Alaska are higher than elsewhere in the U.S. due to many factors. High cost of living, limited competition for health-care professionals, geographically isolated communities, and smaller markets all impact the cost to deliver health care to Alaskans.
Those factors are difficult to control, but one factor we can impact is the size of the market: we can make it bigger. In order to do that, we need to seek opportunities to increase the size of our market. A first step is to expand Medicaid. We can also find other ways to increase the size of our insured market, perhaps by looking to Congress to allow multistate pools to help spread the cost of care.
Medicaid currently serves approximately 160,000 Alaskans and over 90,000 of them are children. Medicaid is a large, complex system and there are reforms to implement that can help it better serve Alaskans. The Department of Health and Social Services is working hard to implement cost saving reforms that will increase program efficiency, and provide better health-care services for all Medicaid beneficiaries including the expansion population. Reforms to our Medicaid delivery system are ongoing, and additional reforms should be implemented along with expansion.
Alaska's economy needs a healthy workforce. With an increase in overall health, we can expect greater productivity, worker satisfaction and an increase to the overall state economy.
I voted against suing our governor because I believe it to be the wrong investment for Alaska to make. I stand by that decision, and I am ready to work on solutions that will move us forward to a healthier Alaska. We need to pursue opportunities to make progress on providing affordable health care to Alaskans by working together, and not by creating divisive lines in the sand.
Sam Kito III, D-Juneau, has served in the state House of Representatives since 2014.
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