Welfare Reform: A Question of JusticeMedicaid. It is the U.S. federal government's program to help states provide health care to the poor and impoverished who otherwise may not receive adequate medical care. In 1995 the federal government spent a total of $77.4 billion on Medicaid. This is a nearly 300% increase from the $20.1 billion in 1984, just 10 years earlier. Over the same 10 years, state spending on Medicaid increased more than 250%, from $16.5 billion to $58.2 billion. Under current Medicaid programs, Medicaid spending will increase at an annual rate of 10 percent, reaching an estimated $262 billion by 2002. Medicaid spending has grown much faster than the general rate of inflation. For the federal government, Medicaid expenditures grew from just 1 percent of the national budget in 1970 to more than 6 percent in 1995, while state expenditures rose from 8.1 percent to 13.5 percent over the same span. time. This increase can be attributed to multiple factors. . First, through a series of mandates, the federal government expanded eligibility for Medicaid, requiring states to serve more people. They have also increased the standards required of care homes. This led to higher costs for nursing homes that were transferred directly to the Medicaid program. The current average cost of caring for a patient in a nursing home is nine times higher than that of a single dependent child. The price of medical care, in general, has increased dramatically. New technologies and expensive procedures represent a large part of this increase. The need for these expensive new technologies is not expected to decrease, the cost will simply be passed on to the public through higher prices and increased Medicaid spending. Finally, an estimated 10% of Medicaid payments are wasted on fraud. This is mostly fraud by healthcare providers, with a tiny amount of patients having falsified documents. From 1985 to 1993, Medicaid enrollment increased 53 percent. In the early 1970s, Medicaid recipients numbered 8 percent. Today, more than 13% of the United States receives Medicaid assistance. If there were no Medicaid, the current cuts in employer-sponsored medical coverage would have increased the uninsured population from the current 41 million to about 50 million in the same situation, and it remains acceptable, then this action is good. If someone had the means and the ability to help another person in desperate need, there would be circumstances in which it would be best not to offer one's assistance. No rational human being could refuse such an act (if they used the categorical imperative to judge). Medicaid is simply a centralized system for doing just that. Even if it doesn't work well, could someone refuse to participate? People in this country need to overlook their own greed. If they see that the money they work hard for is going to improve human lives, even just one, I believe that should be reward enough. I don't think my money is being put to the best use when it comes to Medicaid. Major reforms are needed in the way money is allocated and used. It is also necessary to reduce the need for medical care. By incentivizing businesses to provide health coverage to affected employees, I think this is an achievable goal. The current state of the Medicaid program is bleak, but what would the state of our nation be without it?.