Kansas

Townhall: Kansas’ March Towards ‘Medicaid for All’

/ Nic Horton / Leave a comment

ksleg_at_sunsetThis week, liberal Gov. Laura Kelly of Kansas announced her plan to bring ObamaCare’s Medicaid expansion to the state, opening up the program to an unlimited number of able-bodied, working-age adults. But state lawmakers should be very skeptical of the alleged benefits of this “Medicaid For All” plan. Specifically, there are five major myths about the proposal that should be rejected, full stop.

Myth #1: Gov. Kelly’s plan is not ObamaCare but rather a “conservative” approach.

In reality, this plan is nothing short of a full ObamaCare expansion plan. If adopted, it would provide full ObamaCare benefits to ObamaCare-eligible able-bodied adults, using ObamaCare dollars, funding with new national debt. Plain and simple, this is a proposal to bring ObamaCare’s reckless expansion to Kansas. Continue reading →

The Hill: Work requirements reduce dependency and increase incomes

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income-going-up-ddpavumba-freedigitalphotos.net_.jpgExploding welfare enrollment is one of the largest challenges facing states today. Since 2000, the number of people dependent on Medicaid has more than doubled and the number of able-bodied adults on the program has nearly quadrupled. As a result, total Medicaid spending has skyrocketed, almost tripling from $206 billion in 2000 to nearly $600 billion today.

Even worse, Medicaid spending is now consuming nearly a third of state budgets, leaving fewer and fewer dollars to spend on education, infrastructure, and law enforcement. It’s clear that the current path is unsustainable; states need options to rein in spending, relieve taxpayers, and reserve resources for the truly needy. And the answer is work.

In 2011, Kansas Governor Sam Brownback instituted new sanctions in his state’s cash assistance program for able-bodied adults who refused to meet work requirements. But the Brownback administration didn’t just implement the reform and move on — they tracked the impact so they could see what happened to these individuals once they left welfare. Three key results should inspire policymakers in other states and in Washington D.C. to expand work requirements to able-bodied adults in as many programs as possible. Continue reading →

NRO: Three Things President Trump Can Do to Reduce Dependency

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ebt-57500f8f3df78c9b465ea7c9“We will get our people off of welfare and back to work,” President Trump said in his inaugural address. He continued that theme the next month at CPAC, the Conservative Political Action Conference. “It’s time for all Americans to get off of welfare and get back to work,” he told the crowd. “You’re going to love it, you’re going to love it, you’re going to love it.” And in his address to a joint session of Congress a few days later, the president boldly declared that “millions lifted from welfare to work is not too much to expect.”

This was music to the ears of hard-working Americans across the country, after eight long years of welfare expansion and increased dependency. But how can President Trump deliver on these promises? Continue reading →

Forbes: First-Of-Its-Kind Study Shows The Power Of Work

/ Nic Horton / Leave a comment

Co-authored by Nic Horton, Jonathan Ingram and Josh Archambault 

For too long, thousands of Kansans have languished in welfare, without hope of a better life. But thanks to one simple policy change, many Kansans are now on the path to a better life.

Under federal law, all able-bodied, childless adults in the food stamp program are required to work or train for work at least 20 hours per week. But with help from the Obama administration, most states have been waiving those requirements in recent years. Last year, for example, more than 40 states waived these critical requirements, fostering a culture of long-term dependency.

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But in 2013, Kansas Governor Sam Brownback bucked the trend and instructed state officials to reinstate work requirements and time limits for able-bodied adults. Within three months, half of all able-bodied adults on food stamps had cycled off the program. Enrollment is now 75% lower for this group of adults than it was before work requirements took effect. Continue reading →