We have been offered another free lunch from dear Uncle Sam in the form of $1.7 billion a year for Indiana if we expand our Medicaid program ("Indiana should expand Medicaid," Feb. 19). How could we resist? Maybe because lunch isn't free. Uncle Sam can't afford the tab. And his only source of income is us.
The boatload of money he wants to "give" us, he will get from us - through higher taxes. So it's really our tab. Some states realize this but still take the bait because their citizens have to contribute to the total tab anyway (through the federal taxes). I guess they figure you'd be a fool not to order lunch if you're splitting the tab. The net effect is that every state is tempted to buy something that more than half of them don't want. It's a brilliant manipulation by the federal government.