It’s NOT “Free” Money — It’s “Our” Money

This article presents an enlightening rationale behind the allure of free money provided by the federal government to support the expansion of Medicaid in the states.  These funds are allocated using the Federal Medical Assistance Percentages (FMAP).  These are the percentage rates used to determine the matching funds allocated annually to certain medical and service programs in the United States of America.  FMAP eligible programs are joint federal-state partnerships between the federal government of the United States and state governments which are then administered by the states.  Gov. Kasich’s rationale, in part, for accepting the Medicaid expansion is that the funds already taxed from Ohio citizens will go to another state to expand the economy in that state instead of Ohio.  Such partnerships comprise the framework that amounts to federal coercion over state governments.  The states did not originally create the partnership so the word partnership is a clear misnomer.  The federal government created the program and then dangled it in front of the states.  This is bribery in a subtle form.  These partnerships and their destructive effect on federal/state balance of powers and other areas of government operations needs to be explored and exposed if out of control government spending is to ever be reduced.  It is still OUR money (and our debt!) that is being spent by the states – not FREE money from the federal government.