ObamaCare goes to college (a double whammy)

While I've never understood the connection between health care and college loans, they are nevertheless an integral part of ObamaCare. And just as that train-wreck has greatly depleted Medicare, it also threatens student loans in general, and how the 58 states will have to balance college needs and folks on Medicaid:

"Parents and students facing sky-high state-run college tuitions aren't likely to be thinking about ObamaCare ... ObamaCare relies heavily on Medicaid — the federal/state program that provides health insurance for the poor — to expand coverage."

Okay, we get it, poor folks need health care, too. But what's that got to do with the price of tomatoes, or college?

Just this:

"Medicaid is already swallowing up state budgets, forcing states to cut back on everything else, especially support for two- and four-year public colleges."

As ObamaCare forces more and more folks out of the private insurance market, and onto Medicaid, something's gotta give. And that something, it turns out, is young peoples' dreams:

"As the Medicaid mandate rises, the educational funding declines. That is passed on to universities and they raise tuition in order to make up for it."

That's why we've always called mandates "hidden taxes:" there are no free lunches. Someone has to pay for health care. And since SCOTUS has green-lighted the individual mandate, the problem is exacerbated. That is, buying health insurance is now the law, but going to college is a choice. The former trumps the latter every time.

But the problem with Medicaid doesn't stop there: in addition to "regular" health care, the program is also expected to pick up the tab for long term care (aka nursing home costs). The problem is that there are only so many dollars available, so states will be looking at individuals to pick up more and more of the tab. We saw this with the new Partnership Plans - the government implicitly recognized that folks need to fend for themselves, and so it waved a big carrot. But the stick isn't far behind:

"Some 29 states currently have laws making adult children responsible for their parents if their parents can't afford to take care of themselves."

This is a completely separate issue from the so-called "look-back" provisions, which merely dissuaded folks from transferring assets to their kids. These "filial responsibility" laws (which, as the article notes, are nothing new) require even more blood and treasure from kids who may have already reached a breaking point paying off college loans, which are inflated because the cost of that education keeps going up (helped in no small part - as noted above - by ObamaCare).

Seems like this vicious cycle is just getting revved up.

[Hat Tip: FoIB Brian D]

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