(p. C3) A . . . National Bureau of Economic Research study estimated the value of Medicaid to its recipients at between 20¢ and 40¢ per dollar of expenditure, with the majority of the value going to health-care providers like doctors and hospitals. By comparison, the Earned Income Tax Credit—a cash transfer program designed to enhance the incomes of the working poor—delivers around 90¢ of value to its recipients per dollar of expenditure. Given that more than half of Obamacare’s reduction in the numbers of the uninsured has been from its expansion of Medicaid, this makes the law look more like welfare for the medical-industrial complex than support for the needy.
For the full commentary see:
(Note: ellipsis added.)
(Note: the online version of the commentary has the date Dec. 11, 2015 [sic], and has the same title as the print version.)
The NBER working paper mentioned above was later published in:
(Note: my title for this blog entry continues to be supported in the 2019 published version of the earlier NBER working paper.)