Paul: Medicaid expansion ‘the big question’

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said Sunday there are questions surrounding what will happen with the Medicaid expansion during the process to repeal and replace ObamaCare.

“I think that’s the big question,” Paul said on CNN’s “State of the Union” when asked what will happen to people who now have health insurance because of Medicaid expansion.

“And I don’t think that’s going to be in the replacement aspect. I think that’s going to be in the repeal aspect.”

Paul said the vast majority of people who got insurance under President Obama’s signature healthcare legislation got it through Medicaid.

{mosads}”So, what we have to decide is what can be kept and what can’t be kept. And that’s going to be part of repeal,” Paul said.

“But I will make this point, and this is an incredibly important point. Everybody says, ‘Oh, well, what are we going to do?’ We’re going to give these people care.”

Paul said another question focuses on funding for the program.

“We borrow $1 million a minute. We owe $20 trillion. We have this enormous debt. My point is, we should be honest about it,” Paul said.

“If Kentucky or Tennessee or Ohio wants to expand Medicaid, and they say, ‘You have a lot of people struggling,’ we’re willing to help them, that’s fine.”

But Paul said that will probably involve raising taxes on everybody in Kentucky to pay for Medicaid if the state wants to expand the program.

“Instead, we had this deceitfulness that President Obama said it would be free, it would be taken care of 100 percent by the federal government. But we have no money in Washington,” he said.

“You know, we have a $20 trillion debt, so it’s not honest accounting. So, I would say, if you want to have Medicaid, you should say, we’re going to have to have higher taxes to pay for it.”