A new study released this week by the Foundation for Government Accountability shows that Obamacare's Medicaid expansion has led to twice as many able-bodied enrollees as originally projected.

According to the FGA, 12.7 million able-bodied Americans are now reliant on government provided healthcare.



That means three things for the nation.

First, it means that dramatically increasing dependency rates have led and will continue to lead to spiking government outlays. Second, it means that, albeit in the shadows, the nation is moving closer to socialized medicine. Third, as the FGA notes, it means that those who truly need and deserve Medicaid coverage are unable to receive it as able-bodied adults take up all the open slots available.

This reality offers voters a simple choice.

Either we can recognize that Medicaid should be for the poorest and most needy and pursue reforms to ensure it operates for those individuals. Alternatively, we can prepare for a future of persistent tax increases and socialized government.

Remember, when it comes to socialized medicine, the costs for taxpayers are always far greater than purveyors like Bernie Sanders ever admit. Indeed, the taxpayer-imposed costs are often so high that they crowd out spending on all other areas. More broadly, however, the FGA's analysis is just further proof of Obamacare's broader immorality. In encouraging dependency rather than personal responsibility, Obamacare's Medicaid expansion plays to the lie that all can benefit and none need suffer.

Of course, blowing up the debt, it is the young that suffer the most.

Fortunately, conservatives are beginning to lead on this issue. Pushing back with arguments and statistics, we're making the case as to why it's neither moral nor prudent to make government our overlord. And our arguments are being rendered into action by decisions such as that by President Trump, to allow states to impose work requirements on able-bodied adults receiving medical care.

Still, more must be done because the scale of this challenge and its associated costs are immense: the FGA predicts that if non-Medicaid expansion states reversed course, it would mean "at least" $676 in new taxpayer outlays.

That's tens of billions of dollars more than the total defense budget, folks.