Spendthrift states such as New York and California shouldn’t have a blank check for Medicaid from the federal government. It’s high time Republicans restored the program to its original purpose of serving the truly needy.
Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) recently ripped into progressives for opposing Medicaid reform.
“Medicaid is meant to be a state-federal partnership,” Cassidy, who has an M.D., wrote on X. “States are supposed to pay for 40% of the cost. Most states are paying for less than 15%. … People should not be asking what is the federal government doing? They should be asking why aren’t the states doing more.”
Cassidy is right. Congress originally designed Medicaid in 1965 under President Lyndon B. Johnson’s “Great Society” program as a joint federal-state entitlement, with states and the federal government roughly splitting costs. But states have found ways to shift an ever-growing amount of the cost to federal taxpayers. It’s high time Congress restored balance to the program.
Nothing contained in this blog is to be construed as necessarily reflecting the views of the Pacific Research Institute or as an attempt to thwart or aid the passage of any legislation.
Medicaid isn’t a federal entitlement
Sally C. Pipes
Spendthrift states such as New York and California shouldn’t have a blank check for Medicaid from the federal government. It’s high time Republicans restored the program to its original purpose of serving the truly needy.
Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) recently ripped into progressives for opposing Medicaid reform.
“Medicaid is meant to be a state-federal partnership,” Cassidy, who has an M.D., wrote on X. “States are supposed to pay for 40% of the cost. Most states are paying for less than 15%. … People should not be asking what is the federal government doing? They should be asking why aren’t the states doing more.”
Cassidy is right. Congress originally designed Medicaid in 1965 under President Lyndon B. Johnson’s “Great Society” program as a joint federal-state entitlement, with states and the federal government roughly splitting costs. But states have found ways to shift an ever-growing amount of the cost to federal taxpayers. It’s high time Congress restored balance to the program.
Read the op-ed here.
Nothing contained in this blog is to be construed as necessarily reflecting the views of the Pacific Research Institute or as an attempt to thwart or aid the passage of any legislation.