In 2013, the Arkansas legislature voted to expand Medicaid to able-bodied, childless adults through ObamaCare. One of the primary motivations behind this decision—if not the primary factor—was the hope that expansion would save hospitals from certain demise. But after nearly six full years of expansion and hundreds of thousands of able-bodied adults added to welfare, Arkansas’ hospitals are still struggling—and many of them have closed.
This comes as no surprise to those of us who can plainly see that expanding welfare doesn’t create jobs or bolster economic activity. (Indeed, it does quite the opposite.) But still, these hospital closures simply cannot be overlooked, especially as more states consider whether or not to bring this same nightmare home.
Just this week, news reports out of Arkansas classified the health of the state’s hospitals as “condition critical.” Continue reading
Most people agree on what seems to be a pretty basic fact: the same dollar cannot be spent twice. Money is finite. And when government spends a dollar – or several billion – giving welfare to people who shouldn’t receive it, logic follows that those dollars cannot then be spent on something else. Pretty simple, right?
Policymakers in the Land of Lincoln have some important work to do this year to preserve limited state resources for the truly vulnerable. Stopping the enrollment of able-bodied adults in Illinois’ Medicaid expansion program, and instituting work requirements for able-bodied adults in Medicaid are necessary to safeguard the program for Illinoisans most in need of services.
The Echo Chamber 