Medicaid: Poverty and Government Medicaid Expansion Essay

Submitted By odogbaseball
Words: 642
Pages: 3

Oliver Hanson 10/24/14
AP Government
Medicaid Expansion Paper

A debate on Medicaid has been growing over the years and has come to the tipping point recently. States have just begun to decide whether they will adopt the expansion or just leave it alone. This topic needs to be debated heavily because of the enormous change that it will cause. I think that the states should not implement Medicaid Expansion. The aftermath that it will cause could be too great to handle. At a time when families are struggling to pay for massive college bills for their children and huge tax bills, they now will know that all their hard earned money is going to people who don’t work as hard. Millions of dollars per year will now shift from improving public goods to supporting medical payments for people near the poverty level. This will start to discourage people to work as hard because they know that the money will just be taken from them. Louisiana alone will put in $1.8 billion dollars over 10 years if they choose to implement the expansion. (Rep. Cassidy Video) This means that more hard earned tax money will be taken away from other projects and the result of implementing this policy will most likely cause a income tax increase. The doctors and lawyers who work overtime and who are getting over 30% of their income taken will be upset because it is going to pay for the people who have chosen to stay poor and only work part time. Although the many downfalls, the impact of expanding medicaid will create many new jobs, protect businesses and put some money back into the economy. (Gov. Beshear Video) When people have their incomes taken, they want to see their money be put to good use. Yes, many people will help the poor in their life, but when they realize that now the majority of their taxes are going to pay for the poors medical bills they will be upset. Taxes should all be going to things like schools, roads and public safety because then people won’t mind as much where their money is going. I know I wouldn’t want 30% of my money going to John Smith because he chose to lose his money gambling and now lives under poverty and receives full medicaid. I absolutely want to help the poor, but I have lived by the statement “if you give a man a fish he is hungry again in an hour. If you teach him to catch a fish you feed him for a