Mitchell makes the point that state government grew at a considerably faster rate than either the federal government or the private sector - but he also focuses on Medicaid and suggests that a good deal of the expense growth at the state level has come from the growth in costs of Medicaid. Further his paper suggests that even discounting for the underlying growth in medical costs, that Medicaid even outstripped that lofty rate. The chart at the left is not from him but shows the robust growth as a percentage of GDP that Medicaid has experienced since its creation. Remember that a fundamental premise of Obamacare was a substantial expansion of Medicaid.
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Actually this is a total lie using a stat that is meaningless. In fact it is the biggest lie yet on PPACA:
http://bentelligence.wordpress.com/2011/07/24/the-biggest-lie-ever-on-ppaca-debunked/
The “average rate of unemployment rate change per month” has been reduced
approximately 290% since PPACA was passed showing the power of the new
healthcare law!
If you look at the “average % change in the
unemployment rate per month “ from the financial crisis of 2008 until
6/2011 you will find:
- From 9/2008 (6.2%) thru 4/2010 (9.8%) the unemployment rate averaged a .18% increase / month
- From 5/2010 thru 6/2011 the unemployment rate averaged a .064% decrease
See the details here:
http://bentelligence.wordpress.com/2011/07/24/monthly-unemployment-rate-decreases-since-april-2010-due-to-ppaca/
Note to readers: It is always a good idea to read the post before commenting on it. The point of this one was two - first, Medicaid is growing rapidly as a percentage of GDP. And indeed the numbers here are clear - as the chart shows.
If a major point of Obamacare was to use Medicaid to reduce healthcare costs then based on the trend line in the graph (which does not relate to unemployment) suggests that will not be successful. A basic principle in economics one suggests that if you increase demand for a product without substantially increasing supply that prices will rise. No competent economist would disagree with that premise.
As to the question of growth in unemployment rate since the current president took office; indeed unemployment is down from the top but still well above where the economists that the Administration said it would be at this point (see all the other points on unemployment in the country). But it is still considerably higher than at this point in a recovery than in any other recession in the last fifty years. Evidently Mr. Nail did not see the data from growth in unemployment claims released last week. For several months jobless claims have increased. At the same time the number of underemployed continues to be higher that it has been in previous recessions.
As readers of this blog will remind Mr. Nail - I am happy to publish any opinion, even ones that disagree with the basic point. But it is always a good idea to read the post before commenting.
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