Where the Poor Are

Cybercast News Service reports the results of a survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation. The question was what percentage of the births in each state were paid for by Medicaid, aka welfare medical coverage for the poor.

New Mexico led all states with 72 percent of the babies born there in 2015 having their births covered by Medicaid.

Arkansas ranked second with 67 percent; Louisiana ranked third with 65 percent; and three states—Mississippi, Nevada and Wisconsin—tied for fourth place with 64 percent of babies born there covered by Medicaid.

New Hampshire earned the distinction of having the smallest percentage of babies born on Medicaid. In that state, Medicaid paid for the births of only 27 percent of the babies born in 2015.

Virginia and Utah tied for the next to last position, with 31 percent of the babies born on Medicaid.

First-ranked New Mexico reports the 72% you'd expect from a third world country. Perhaps NM should be downgraded from a state to a commonwealth like Puerto Rico. My home state of Wyoming ranked 44th with only 36% paid by Medicaid.

According to KFF, some of the nation’s most populous states shared the distinction of having 50 percent or more of the babies born there born on Medicaid.

In California, Florida and Illinois, for example, 50 percent of all babies were born on Medicaid in the latest year on record.

In New York, 51 percent of the babies were born on Medicaid.

In Ohio, 52 percent of babies were born on Medicaid.

Actually, the table shows half the states have half or more of their births paid by Medicaid. Reminds me of a wisecrack from my father's era: "The rich get richer and the poor get children."

I wish Kaiser had produced statistics on what percentage in each state were born to parents in the U.S. illegally. It's likely the two rankings would be highly correlated. My headline tips a hat to the novel, film, and Connie Francis song all titled Where the Boys Are.