The danger of Medicaid expansion
The past few months, Gov. Laura Kelly has made it known that it is her mission to grow the government through Medicaid expansion. She has pushed a lot of misinformation surrounding the topic, so today, we are taking a deep dive into what Medicaid actually is, and debunk some of the lies the Democratic governor has said.
A Brief History of Medicaid
When it comes to the health care system, it is lousy with government regulations. It’s an absolute monster to fully understand everything in it. However, to state the obvious, for over a century the U.S. government has been infringing in the health care system. Like with any system the government gets its tyrannical little hands on, it ultimately made the system worse off than it would have otherwise been. Medicaid and Medicare were one extremely damaging way the government infringed on the system.
In July of 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Social Security Amendment of 1965 into law creating Medicaid and Medicare—two of America’s most enduring social programs.
It is important to understand the differences between Medicaid and Medicare. Medicare is a government health insurance at the federal level for people age 65 and older with certain disabilities and conditions. Due to this government program being at the federal level, Medicare coverage will be the same regardless of what state a person lives in.
Medicaid is a joint federal and state program that helps cover medical costs for some people with limited income and resources. All state Medicaid programs must follow some general rules provided by the federal government, but individual states run their own program—meaning eligibility requirements and benefits can vary state to state.
Originally, Medicaid gave medical insurance to people receiving cash assistance. However, as time has gone on, the government has grown to cover a much larger group of people, including: low-income families, pregnant women, people of all ages with disabilities, and people who need long-term care. This being the government, it really didn’t take too long to see them grow in power. In fact, just two years after the Democratic President created Medicaid, in 1967, Social Security Amendments were added to cover individuals with disabilities as well as providing children under the age of 21 with appropriate screening, preventive care, and treatment services. And the government has only expanded quickly from there.
Since the 1980s, Medicaid enrollment has expanded so much that by 2015 two out of three Americans had some sort of connection to the government program. This is either through themselves, a family member, or a close friend being currently or previously enrolled.
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Ian Brannan
Ian Brannan is an independent journalist who founded The Kansas Constitutional in April 2022. His work focuses on issues including abortion, Convention of States, drug policy, education, government, LGBT issues, media, and more. He is also the co-host of the Remember COVID podcast.