Texas Insider Report: DALLAS Texas More than 50 million Americans are on Medicaid the federal-state program aimed principally at the poor a survey of state data by USA Today shows. Thats up at least 17 since the recession began in December 2007.
The program has grown even before the new health care law adds about 16 million people beginning in 2014. That has strained doctors. Private physicians are already indicating that theyre at their limit says Dan Hawkins of the National Association of Community Health Centers.
In other areas:
- More than 40 million people get food stamps an increase of nearly 50 percent during the economic downturn according to government data through May; the program has grown steadily for three years.
- Close to 10 million receive unemployment insurance (nearly four times the number from 2007); benefits have been extended by Congress eight times beyond the basic 26-week program enabling the long-term unemployed to
get up to 99 weeks of benefits; caseloads peaked at nearly 12 million in January.
- More than 4.4 million people are on welfare an 18 percent increase during the recession.
As caseloads for all the programs have soared so have costs says USA Today:
- The federal price tag for Medicaid has jumped 36 percent in two years to $273 billion.
- Jobless benefits have soared from $43 billion to $160 billion.
- The food stamps program has risen 80 percent to $70 billion.
- Welfare is up 24 percent to $22 billion.
Conservatives fear expanded safety net programs wont contract after the economy recovers.
Theyre much harder to unwind in the long term says Michael Tanner of the
Cato Institute.
Source: Richard Wolf
Record number in government anti-poverty programs USA Today August 30 2010.
