In recent years, Texas Medicaid spending has doubled, on the average, every six to seven years, an eightfold increase in less than 20 years. At this explosive rate of unprecedented growth, the present $17 billion annual Texas Medicaid budget will exceed $136 billion annually – more than one-quarter of a trillion dollars ($272 billion) a biennium in less than 20 years. That amount is more than double the state’s budget today.
Empowerment Accounts: 21st Century Safety-Net Reform
Frankie Johnson, a college-educated single mother from Washington, D.C., moved to Atlanta to distance herself and daughter from an abusive husband. Without a job or place to live, she sought government assistance for childcare and transitional housing. While she waited for this assistance, she was offered a job paying $70,000. She turned it down. Why?...