GOP Lawmakers Raise Concern on Higher Obamacare Medicaid Costs

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton, R-Mich., are raising alarms about the high cost of new Medicaid enrollees who signed up under Obamacare's expansion of the program, The Hill reports.

In a letter to the Obama administration, the two Republicans noted that according to a federal government actuary in July, new Medicaid enrollees who signed under Obamacare's expansion of the program costs on average $5,517 per person, which is 19 percent more than standard enrollees.

The lawmakers wrote to the administration that the "double-digit increase in costs is potentially concerning."

According to the Hill, Hatch and Upton are asking the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) questions to ensure that the administration "is conducting robust oversight of federal dollars."

"States effectively lack economic incentives to be prudent purchasers for the newly-eligible population, because the federal government pays 100 percent of the cost of care for this population," Hatch and Upton write.

So far, 30 states have expanded Medicaid. The Obama administration is pushing for all Republican-run states to expand the program.

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