In 2012, the Supreme Court made ObamaCare expansion optional for states. Unfortunately, 31 states took the bait and authorized expansion, signing up far more able-bodied adults than ever anticipated. California, for example, has signed up more than four times as many non-disabled, working-age adults than they said would ever possibly enroll. Nationwide, more than 12.4 million able-bodied adults are now dependent on Medicaid as a result of state decisions to expand ObamaCare, siphoning away resources that could instead go to help the truly needy.
Unlike other major welfare programs, able-bodied adults in ObamaCare expansion have no work requirement, no training requirement, and no volunteering requirement. Enrollees also face no time limit, which puts ObamaCare expansion outside the mainstream when it comes to other major welfare programs in the United States.
With no work requirement or time limit, ObamaCare effectively transformed Medicaid—a program originally intended to serve the elderly and disabled—into a new welfare trap for able-bodied adults. New data from more than a dozen ObamaCare expansion states reveal that, if expansion enrollees are not required to work, they will not—at all.