Medicaid: The Great Leach

This article from CNN.com discusses some proposed changes to the Medicaid system. There's a few things I'd like to highlight. First is this statement:

Medicaid now serves about 53 million people and the program is expected to spend a total of $329 billion in state and federal funds in 2005. The governors note the cost of the program has risen so dramatically that it now has overtaken elementary and secondary education when it comes to state spending.

You're telling me that a full sixth of the nation is on Medicaid? I thought this was just for the needy? On top of that, this sucks up $329 billion? All those leftists who ranted and raved about the cost of the Iraq war won't say anything about this...so I will. That's ridiculous. The government needs to be less involved in the healthcare industry. The healthcare companies can't compete against a government that doesn't charge anything.

Members of the Senate Finance Committee soon proved his point with a spirited debate over the wisdom of tax cuts enacted under the Bush administration.

Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-West Virginia, said that if Congress voted against making the tax cuts permanent, "we could cure Social Security, ... we could cure Medicare, we could cure Medicaid."

*SLAP* Bad Senator. Raising taxes does not cure anything. It just makes people like you think they can spend more. Think within the current tax box...there's plenty of fat programs the government doesn't need. Like Medicaid, for instance.

Sen. Gordon Smith, R-Oregon, replied: "I don't think just jacking up taxes is the answer here."

Good man. Now just think more like a libertarian...