LANSING, MI - Libertarian candidate for governor Bill Gelineau this week released a plan to pay teens and young women on the state's Medicaid system to delay having kids until age 23.

The proposed pilot program would enroll 5,000 teenage girls, with permission from a parent or guardian, at age 15 or 16. From there, participants would be incentivized with increasingly large dollar amounts to not become pregnant until age 23.

The state would require an annual blood test to be submitted with tax returns to prove a participant wasn't pregnant. By age 23, women who signed up at age 15 would get $27,000 over the life of the program.

Gelineau said the proposal, many months in the making, is based on social science. The investment from the state, he said, will ultimately save taxpayer money.

"A small investment here is going to result in bending the curve and making a difference in the number of kids that are born on the Medicaid system, which is a much much more expensive reality," Gelineau said.

Younger parents, he said, face big obstacles and are more likely to remain in poverty. He considers himself an exception.

"It's really hard to raise a family and go to college at the same time. I dropped out when I was 20, because I started making kids," he said.

He was able to work a lot of hours and take a night shift to support his growing family. But this program would give people a hand up and help them pull themselves out of poverty, he said.

He knew the plan could generate some controversy and has gotten some criticism from within Libertarian circles.

Asked about Gelineau's proposal, Planned Parenthood of Michigan said in a statement: "Women must be able to make decisions about if, when and where to have a child free from government influence or coercion. We believe providing access to comprehensive sex education and birth control are the best steps toward enabling women to make informed decisions about their futures."

Practically, implementing the proposal would require a waiver from the federal government. Gelineau said he expects about a 50 percent failure rate - in other words, people who do get pregnant while in the program. He acknowledges it's "social engineering," but is confident it will work.

Some of the criticism he's gotten accuses his plan of being racist or "eugenics," he said, but he said that was not true and encouraged people to read the plan. It doesn't target any one demographic or stop people from having families after age 23, he said.

Gelineau said most Libertarians aren't in favor of Medicaid generally, but he wanted to put something on the table that could work in terms of saving taxpayers money and helping people break out of poverty.

"At the end of the day if our desire is to govern, I think we need to offer serious programs like this," he said.

Gelineau is up against Democrat Gretchen Whitmer, Republican Bill Schuette and other third-party candidates in the Nov. 6 election for the state's next governor.