The Monday protesters are still complaining about the state’s refusal to expand Medicaid under Obamacare. They say that’s immoral. But what’s really immoral would be expanding a failed and faulty Medicaid system.
First, expanding Medicaid is a financial trap. The state is still struggling with debt; adding more would be disastrous.
And that would be an understatement if the feds cut their share of funding, which they could do tomorrow.
Second, it’s wrong to forcibly take money from some people to give it to some favored group. Walter Williams, at our CLC, explained why it’s basically wrong — basically stealing — to take money from some people just to give it to others, even when you have good intentions.
It’s immoral to take hundreds of millions of dollars from working people to give it others in the form of Medicaid payments, especially when ….
Third, there’s more proof that Medicaid traps people in unemployment hell.
As the above article points out:
Researchers Laura Dague, Thomas DeLeire, and Lindsay Leininger argue in a National Bureau of Economic Research working paper that Medicaid enrollment will lead to significant and lasting reductions in employment among childless adults.
Here’s a link to the original article. (Fees may apply.)
And let’s put an end to the tired meme that this is about calling unemployed people lazy. It’s about people responding rationally to incentives. If people get an economic benefit for not working, many people will decide not to work.
Once you get off the workforce, it gets harder to get back in. Eventually you may not be able to.
It’s immoral to lure people into a state of dependency and unemployment by dangling Medicaid as a benefit for them.
Fourth, Medicare is a lousy way to help people with their needs. As one policy expert recently put it:
Medicaid recipients consistently fare poorly on medical access and outcomes. Their access to doctors and specialists is significantly lower than those with private insurance. Their death rate in hospitals following surgery is twice as high. And children on Medicaid have much longer waits to see doctors, along with a higher chance of being turned away by health care providers.
As that writer points out, expanding Medicaid is a moral issue … because it is immoral to throw more people into a failed model.
What really ought to be done is to truly reform Medicaid. That would be the kind, effective, and moral thing to do.
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