The Magazine  The Sharp Pencil Test  Time for a real growth
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Text Alerts  The problem should be fixed at the federal level:
Rather than pay half the cost of whatever states decide to
cover, give the states a fixed allowance called a block grant.
Couple that with a sharp reduction in federal regulations so
that states can design and administer programs as they see fit.
This rewards innovation and thrift. It is a major principle of
the Ryan budget. One can debate the amount of the block grant,
but to pass any Sharp Pencil Test, block-granting Medicaid is
the only way to go.  President Obama and the Democrats oppose
this. One reason is that some of their special interest groups
like the service-employees union are major beneficiaries of the
current system. But the main reason is that Obamacare needs the
matching-grant system to depress its apparent price tag. It
dumps millions of people onto the Medicaid rolls, forcing states
to pick up half the cost. T