The plan has a sliding copay, based on family size and income, and is financed by the state tobacco tax. The new program also creates prescription drug assistance for low income seniors, covering approximately 65,000 elderly. It simply hasn't happened. Social service caseloads have remained remarkably constant. There has been no evidence of the predicted devastation.
Challenges exist, and they are being faced head-on.
Welfare needs reform more than virtually anything else in government. States can make it work and see it succeed .