Those who watched the House floor debate on the budget resolution Tuesday night saw that nearly every Democrat marched to the microphone and accused Republicans of  “cutting Medicaid to pay for tax cuts for billionaires.”  In reality, the bill only reverses some of the rapid expansion during the Biden years. The spending rose by nearly 50% during the Biden term.

The spending is expected to soar over the next decade.

Here’s why the spending is growing so rapidly: The root of the problem is the infamous “Cornhusker Kickback” bribe that bought then-Senator Ben Nelson of Nebraska’s vote to get Obamacare over the line.  Obama gave Nebraska 90% federal funding for Medicaid expansion.

When the corrupt deal saw the light of day, they saved themselves from the whiff of corruption by extending this treatment to all 50 states.

As a result, states are incentivized to sign up as many able-bodied, working-age adults as possible – at a 90% federal funding rate – and minimize the number of needy children, disabled people, and elderly in their Medicaid programs, which the federal government funds at an average of 57%.

And many blue states no longer even come up with their 10%, instead adopting “provider tax” scams where hospitals put up the state funds and then get them right back along with the flood of federal funds.  If that sounds like a scam, it should.  As expected, federal Medicaid spending has soared:

Ending the provider tax scam and the 90% federal funding share were both Obama proposals. Were they “gutting Medicaid” back then?

Republicans shouldn’t  be scared off of needed Medicaid reforms. That starts with forcing states to pay a larger share of the health costs for able-bodied adults.  Republicans also need to insert popular work requirements to be eligible for free health care.