BrianGarst.com

When it came to campaigning against George W. Bush, unfunded mandates were despicable.  Now they’re just a convenient way to hide the costs of annexing health care:

The more we inspect Max Baucus’s health-care bill, the worse it looks. Today’s howler: One reason it allegedly “pays for itself” over 10 years is because it would break all 50 state budgets by permanently expanding Medicaid, the joint state-federal program for the poor.

Democrats want to use Medicaid to cover everyone up to at least 133% of the federal poverty level, or about $30,000 for a family of four. Starting in 2014, Mr. Baucus plans to spend $287 billion through 2019—or about one-third of ObamaCare’s total spending—to add some 11 million new people to the Medicaid rolls.

Not every state is hit equally, though. Some states have politically connected crooks to insulate them from the burdens they place on everyone else.

corruption federalism Harry Reid