States Weigh In
The above link relates to processes and procedures I've been unfamiliar with (not being a politician, y'know) so I had to read it through a couple of times to make sure I was understanding what it was saying.
The gist seems to be that, when it comes to health care (and probably other issues but not right now for me), maybe it isn't all totally dependent on Congress after all.
Lots of people know more about this stuff than I do, but I'm learning as I go here so bear with me.
This article talks about 'waivers' relating to aspects of current law (?) which the Governors of the States can submit applications for and the President either permits or denies. Apparently this is how the last administration got the expanded Medicaid plan going ... unless I'm getting it all wrong (which wouldn't surprise me) ...
Here's a bit:
"Recent analyses of pending 1115 Medicaid expansion waivers ... suggest that the immediate focus will be shared conservative policy priorities in the face of congressional inaction rather than on inducing policy changes by Democratic governors. The Trump administration, for example, has signaled a willingness to approve work requirements via 1115 waivers.The Obama administration denied waiver proposals that would have imposed similar rules as a condition of expanding Medicaid."
And:
"While history suggests that presidents do not always simply rubber stamp waiver applications from governors of their own party and desk reject those from their opponents, the Trump administration has signaled an interest in policy changes, like work requirements, that Democratic governors are unlikely to be enthusiastic about. Particularly given the Republican party’s recent legislative failures on healthcare, Republican politicians at the state and national level – governors and members of the Trump administration – face particularly strong incentives to deliver, at least in part, on their party’s promises to enact healthcare reforms. These conditions in turn may create fertile ground for policymaking via waivers in Republican-controlled states."
So, what exactly does this mean?
The above references have to do with Medicaid expansion, which apparently in effect added 38% to the requirement guideline, making a lot more people eligible - a waiver process available to States that wanted to use it. To my way of thinking it raised the 'poverty level' of those states by 38% but what do I know? Not a heck of a lot, obviously. (while I'm thinking here, I may as well go ahead and think that reasonable insurance premiums might have provided a reasonable alternative, but again what do I know?)
My next point of curiosity is what exactly can these waivers affect?
Could, perhaps, the States that want changes in the existing Health Care 'situation', frustrated by the lack of action in Congress, submit their own plans of action (so to speak) in the form of these waivers? If our President grants them, it would effectively make the wanted/needed changes independently of Congress, in those States, if I'm reading this right.
Being as I just read a thing about a couple of Governors who are apparently developing a plan to submit to Congress, I'm wondering how come they're doing that rather than simply submitting waivers for their States to make whatever changes they want. Maybe they think the waivers wouldn't be approved, or maybe they're thinking beyond the borders of their own states. I have no idea.
*laughing*
I have no idea about a lot of stuff.
On the other hand I do have a lot of curiosity.
Let's say a State wants to do away with the Individual Mandate.
Can they submit waivers to that effect?
It seems this procedure is nothing new (although to me the concept is entirely new as I'd not known it was even an option). If various States used it to get what they wanted before, is there any reason States can't use the same process to effect changes within their borders? It's essentially a tool that the States have at their disposal, not? They aren't guaranteed success as it's up to the President to grant or deny, but surely it would be worth a try.
How many of us even know about this? I'm not surprised that I had never heard of it because I'm pretty much 'out of the loop', but if it were widely known I would have heard about it, even in my relatively reclusive life.
Continuing with my point of curiosity about exactly what these waivers can affect, the next obvious question is what other areas of interest might be brought up for perusal in this context.
I have a feeling our States have more power than most of us might be fully aware of, especially if this waiver thing applies to other areas if interest, and more especially if the Will of the States is in accord with the Will of the sitting President.
If a State wants things to remain status quo, it just sits tight and lives with it. The States that want changes are apparently free to submit waivers outlining the changes they want to make, and the President either says yes or no.
All things considered, it might be nice if State Congressfolk would confer with their voters to find out exactly what they want, take that information to their State Houses and Senates, get what their people want put into a Bill, get the approval of their voters on the Bill (or make whatever changes the people want), get it onto their Governor's desk, and submit the waiver to the President. Post-haste.
Alternatively, and frankly even less likely, the people themselves could sit down together, hammer out a cohesive and concise proposal, and light fires under their State Congressfolk to get the process under way.
Yeh.
No wonder we've not heard about this option, huh?
Do the Washington folk really want the populace to realize that they could actually do that? When it comes down to it, how often are we consulted in any real way about stuff, and how often do we gather the reins ourselves to take the initiative on stuff? Rarely, and more rarely.
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