Medicaid Expansion Case Study

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Pages: 8

A. The Medicaid Expansion Program is uniform and not coercive.

The MEP applies to all states in the nation equally. Gary Allison, Legislative Power Advocacy Exercise: Problem Statement 5. Each state has the ability to, “[e]stablish its own eligibility standards, [d]etermines the type, amount, duration, and scope of services, [s]ets the rates of payment for services, and [a]dministers its own Medicaid program.” Id. The present case is similar to Chas. C. Steward Machine Co. v. Davis in which Congress was faced with the task of reducing the unemployment rate across the nation during the Great Depression. Chas. C. Steward Machine Co., 11 Rotunda 232. To combat this issue, Congress created an unemployment relief system under the Social Security
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Gary Allison, Legislative Power Advocacy Exercise: Problem Statement 5. Similar in part to the current case, in United States v. Butler, Congress created the Agricultural Adjustment Act (“AAA”) to help farmers increase their income during the Great Depression. Butler, 11 Rotunda 228. The AAA was created to reduce the amount of crops being produced in order to increase the amount of revenue going back to the farmers. Id. at 228. Farmers that agreed to enter into the program were paid rentals or benefits. In order to pay for the rentals and benefits, a tax was placed upon crop processors equal to the difference between the current average price of the crops and a fair exchange value created by the Secretary of Agriculture. Id. The AAA’s tax was challenged by Hoosac Mills Corp., a cotton processing company, who alleged the tax was unconstitutional. …show more content…
Butler established that the taxing and spending powers are completely separate enumerated powers granted to Congress by the Constitution. Id. at 230. Congress may use its spending powers to promote to general welfare in many ways. However, Congress must apply the provision nationally. Id. In the present issue, the MEP is applied equally to every state in order to promote the general welfare. Gary Allison, Legislative Power Advocacy Exercise: Problem Statement 5. The current Medicaid program is too limited and excludes a wide range of Americans. By expanding the Medicaid program to more Americans, it ensures that more people will have access to affordable health care. Approximately 45 million Americans are uninsured currently. Id. at 1. This number will only increase if the federal government does not alter the current Medicaid program to include a wider range of Americans. The current issue is distinguishable from Butler, because the tax created in Butler was in violation of the Tenth Amendment. Butler, 11 Rotunda at 230. There is no Tenth Amendment violation in the present case because Congress clearly has the power to “‘alter, amend, or repeal any provision’ of the Medicaid Program” considering the MEP is a part of the federal Medicaid law. Gary Allison, Legislative Power Advocacy Exercise: Problem Statement 6. It is clear that this grant is legitimately related to the increasing number of uninsured Americans because it is centered around expanding the