Medicaid Pays for Dead, While Billions Fund Living Wars
The AP highlighted that Medicaid paid over $207 million for deceased individuals between 2021-2022, framing it as a serious issue that a 'new law could help fix'. This efficiency audit, pursued by the HHS Office of Inspector General for a decade, is lauded while the immediate, unquestioning approval of billions in military aid often goes unscrutinized. For perspective, in April 2024, Congress
passed H.R. 8038 , providing $26.38 billion, a significant portion of which is military aid, to Israel. Many of these votes came from politicians who annually receive tens, if not hundreds, of thousands from organizations like AIPAC. (See OpenSecrets.org for donor data.) The outrage over $207 million dispersed over two years to dead Americans versus $26 billion-plus sent overseas in a single vote
raises questions about where fiscal 'responsibility' truly lies.