On the website empowertexans.com,
Senator Craig Estes from Wichita Falls weighed in on the much debated subject
of Medicaid. Empower Texans is a website that welcomes conservative bloggers
and commentators from all over Texas, so the intended audience is most definitely
right-winged traditionalists. Seeing that Estes is a Republican state senator,
it seems he holds a great amount of credibility, especially to other
Republicans. In addition to voicing his opinion, he also presents facts to back
up his argument.
The argument being discussed is
that of Medicaid expansion. Estes believes that this expansion will not benefit
Texans. He presents three main arguments against it. The first one is that
Texas simply can’t afford this increase. He claims that Medicaid is already
growing rapidly and by 2023, even without expansion, Medicaid will consume thirty-seven
percent of the state budget, outweighing other important funding such as higher
education, public safety, and natural resources combined. His second dispute is
how this Medicaid increase will affect Texas taxpayers. Estes brings up a good
point in that the people receiving government funding are essentially receiving
free money, but for those who are hardworking citizens, we pay out of our own paychecks
to support these government programs. Lastly, the third fact he presents is the
massive fraud associated with Medicaid. He states that in the last decade they
have identified more than $770 million in suspected Medicaid fraud and that’s
only what we know of.
All in all, I think Estes makes a
logical argument. He brings up a good position in that we should not focus on
expanding Medicaid, but focus on creating more jobs for Texans. It’s quite
obvious that this program isn’t solving any problems but rather prolonging the
issue of people not having jobs and not being able to support themselves or
their families. While I have always had sympathy for people who are less
fortunate, I also think that handing them free money isn’t the answer, especially
when I see myself and my peers working hard to earn our money, just to see our
paychecks dwindling to support those who don’t work. I’ve also seen way too
many people using government funds insufficiently to support their drug or alcohol
addictions. So in conclusion, I think there should be some changes made in how
we handle this growing problem of how to offer help to those who need it.
Article: Medicaid Mousetrap
Author: Craig Estes
Source: Empower Texans
Posted: March 13, 2013
