The poorest of the poor

"The government programs that provide health care to the poor would expand to cover nearly one in five Americans under health insurance legislation pending in Congress, putting pressure on federal and state budgets. . . . That would be the biggest single expansion since Medicaid was created in 1965. . . . "This is one of the most significant changes in the health reform bills," says Ron Pollack, executive director of the liberal health care advocacy group Families USA. "This affects the people who are the poorest of the poor."

http://www.usatoday.com/NEWS/usaedition/2009-10-19-medicaid19_ST_U.htm?csp=34

That's one way to justify an expansion of Medicaid - - simply redefine "one in five Americans" as "the poorest of the poor".

There was a time when we focused on getting people off welfare and helping them become self sufficient, not on simply expanding eligibility for welfare programs.