This hardly comes as a surprise. Medicaid was originally passed to cover the lowest 2% of American earners. It now covers 23%; and 1 in 3 babies is born into the program. Over the last ten years the federal government is slinging money at states as fast as it can print and borrow it in order to further the addiction to taxpayer funded healthcare. The fact that there are still 12 holdout states is the real story here. From the Wall Street Journal:
Some GOP-led states that previously declined to expand Medicaid are reconsidering that decision now that the $1.9 trillion pandemic-relief package has made billions of dollars available to enlarge the program.
The legislation passed by Congress last month boosts federal funding for two years to states that expand Medicaid, more than covering a state’s cost for increasing eligibility for the program, which is currently used by almost 79 million low-income and disabled people.
The availability of more federal funds is putting pressure on Republican leaders in some of the 12 states that haven’t expanded the program.
