Approximately 78.4 million people are currently enrolled in Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) in the United States. This represents about one in five Americans. Out of those 78.4 million people, approximately 9.4 million enrollees are 65 and older. Seniors represent approximately 12 percent of the total number of Medicaid recipients.
As of October 2024, approximately 37 million children, or 49% of U.S. children, were enrolled in Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). This means that nearly half of all children under 18 are covered by these programs.
What does it say about “government” and our country when half of the children are on government assistance? It says “government” has failed to create the environment for people to be successful on their own. It says healthcare costs too much and so does private health insurance. It says soft landings prevent hard knocks and given the choice, most people will pick a soft landing over a hard knock every time. The problem is soft landings are enablers and hard knocks are motivators. If the federal government is going to hand out healthcare coverage for children like its candy, why would parents do anything to change their reliance on the government to take care of their kids?
The truth is millions of people who receive any form of welfare from the government, including welfare healthcare, will work harder at not losing the benefits than to get off the government’s nipple. It’s a hard, unpleasant fact that should not and cannot be denied. Millions of Americans will tell you they can’t earn too much money or else they’ll lose their “assistance”. The government creates and then cosigns this dependency.
“The problem is soft landings are enablers and hard knocks are motivators. If the federal government is going to hand out healthcare coverage for children like its candy, why would parents do anything to change their reliance on the government to take care of their kids?”
~ E.F. Haas
In 2023, Medicaid expenditures were approximately $900.3 billion. In 2024, this amount increased by $300 billion, reaching $1.2 trillion, primarily due to inflation. Currently, a significant majority of Democrats advocate for a single national government program for health insurance, effectively expanding Medicaid to cover all individuals. The projected annual cost for implementing universal healthcare is estimated to exceed $5.5 trillion. Paying for universal healthcare in the United States would require individual tax rates to increase significantly, perhaps doubling. It would create a seismic shift in our nation’s economy, putting the United States on a fast track towards blanket socialism. The tremors resulting from such an upheaval in our economy would be felt around the world.
What do all these statistics say about the United States of America? How can we possibly speak of individual liberty when half our children and nearly a quarter of our adult population require assistance from the federal government for healthcare? Setting aside the senior population, the remaining 88 percent of Medicaid enrollees should be reevaluated. People with debilitating mental impairment and physical disabilities should remain enrolled in Medicaid with few requirements or entanglements. But for the people who can work and if necessary, learn new skills to help them increase their income, their Medicaid should have an expiration date on it. A lifetime of poverty because of poor choices in life should not mean a lifetime of government assistance.
Choosing to work fewer hours to qualify for government assistance programs like Medicaid and SNAP, rather than being a consistent part of the full-time workforce, should be recognized as fraudulent use of public resources. Or we could just call it stealing.
Ephesians 4:28 ESV
Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need.
For even when we were with you, we would give you this command: If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat.
