The January 24 New York Times presented the real cost of Medicaid for the poor.

It is doubtful that the average U.S. citizen is totally unaware of the huge cost of free health care for the poor.  In this article by Richard Perez-Pena he tells us a statistic that is staggering economically speaking, and I quote:

"The New York State Department of Health and New York City's Health and Hospitals Corporation, the agency that runs the city's public hospital system, estimate that the new rule would cost the corporation $350 million a year, or 7 percent of its annual budget.  The cut, officials said, would be felt most in outpatient services where the system handles five million visits each year."

The article went on to say that there would have to be a wholesale dismantling of ambulance care systems and the emergency departments so popular with the poor who have no insurance coverage, Alan D. Aviles, president of Health and Hospitals Corporation, explained.