Believe In America.com

butterbean · Joined: 21 Jun 2006 Posts: 2269

You've got to love government "solutions. Illegal immigration and Medicaid fraud have been front-burner issues for years now, but the federal government has been powerless to gain control of either. One of its more recent efforts to stem the tide of illegals who come to America to board the government gravy train was to require states to get proof of citizenship before enrolling people in Medicaid.

On the surface, this makes sense. Why should U.S. taxpayers subsidize the health care of people who come to this country illegally? The Congressional Budget Office estimated the requirement would save taxpayers $220 million over five years. It turns out the CBO pulled that number out of the air because accurate data on how many undocumented people are on Medicaid don't exist.

And since this is a government solution, the new proof-of-citizenship rule comes with so many strings, the projected savings are being consumed and then some by front-end expenditures. Colorado, for example, thought it would save $300,000. But to comply with all the federal mandates, it must spend $2.9 million for computer upgrades and other bureaucratic expenses. So it will be 10 years before it sees its first penny in savings, but by then, the federal government, if it falls into the hands of the Democrats, could "fix" Medicaid and allow illegals to enroll.

continued:
http://www.rep-am.com/story.php?id=19975