On June the 28th, I wrote this.  Basically, the blog describes a way that our federal government could get out of the health care business, a bridge to that end, by punting the problem of Medicare/Medicaid to the states for them to deal with as they see fit.  Politically, I still don’t see a way to deal with the bankrupting entitlements like Medicare and Medicaid unless those in Washington simply fade back and punt to the states.

Representatives Rokita, Huelskamp, Broun and Jordan just introduced The State Health Flexibility Act.  You know what this does?  It punts Medicaid to the states!  You know what’s next?  Denying Washington their “expensive night on the town” with the funds in the first place.  Block grants are a step in the right direction, a very difficult first step in the unraveling of entitlements that ultimately must happen on a state level. 

This is the doctrine of subsidiarity.  The government that governs best governs closest to home.  Montana’s Medicaid challenges are probably different than those in Louisiana.  Why not let the states deal with their own indigent care issues rather than have “the crowd” of all-knowing bureaucrats in D.C. shove it down their throat? 

LBJ’s vision of “The Great Society” has turned in to looming bankruptcy.  The entitlement class in this country has formed over the last 50 years and will not end overnight.  The beginning of the end of this insanity can start with block grants not unlike those proposed by these representatives. 

Well done.

Find out more about their proposal here:  State Health Flexibility Act

G. Keith Smith, M.D.