Should students use WIC or Medicaid?
Here is an editorial from BYU’s Daily Universe:
Don’t Use Medicaid
How can any BYU couple use WIC or Medicaid?
“But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel.” Taking government money is not providing for your family - it forces me and everyone else to provide for them instead.
Don’t tell me it’s impossible not to. I know several fathers who work two jobs and go to school. How a husband and wife in Provo can both work and still need a handout is beyond me.
As an apostle taught in the Marriott Center, “If you don’t have the finances to complete your education, drop out a semester and go to work and save. You’ll be a better man or woman for so doing. You will have preserved your self-respect and initiative.”
This raises an interesting question - should students use WIC or Medicaid? Here was my response:
A BYU couple that uses Medicaid is operating under the same principle as a BYU student who accepts grants, scholarships, or even the tuition subsidy from the Church. All BYU students are foregoing income now to get an education in order to increase their future income and to contribute more to society later. Our housing, food and medical needs continue while we’re in school. Medicaid, grants, scholarships and the Church’s tuition help are all forms of cost subsidy: transferring wealth from others with more to us with less. I don’t see the difference. According to “Don’t use Medicaid” (Feb. 21) then, we have all “denied the faith, and are worse than an infidel.”
What do you think about the issue?
[UPDATE: I received the following email from Benjamin]
i understand that college can be financially challenging and even further difficult when you add the complexities of a family. just a thought regarding your comparison of medicaid and wic to grants, scholarships etc — grants and scholarships are paid for from contributions whereas medicaid and wic are tax dollars. the more demand on medicaid affects everyone’s taxes while very few tax dollars are used for grants and scholarships as they are primarily supplied by donations. my taxes do not go towards grants and scholarships.
kindest regards
And so I responded to him with the following:
I see your point, but from the perspective of the recipient it makes no difference where the money comes from; it’s “free” money, is it not? You could make the argument that scholarships are merit-based, but one could also make the argument that pursuing higher education is merit enough to warrant help. The original letter described recipients of WIC and Medicaid as deniers of the faith, and not supporting their own family - can you tell me the difference between a recipient of WIC or Medicaid and a recipient of a grant, scholarship, or tuition subsidy? If one is “worse than an infidel” then they all are. You tell me if they are.
The point that you are trying to make is a valid one, but a separate issue. It regards how the funds are collected, whether voluntarily or involuntarily, and you’re right there is a difference. Scholarships are voluntarily-contributed privately-funded subsidies, as well as some grants. Federal grants (Pell grants), interest subsidies on Stafford loans, tax benefits (HOPE scholarship, and Lifetime Learning Credit), WIC, and Medicaid all come from federal tax revenue according to the tax code set by the democratically-elected Congress. One could argue that because we choose are leaders, and they choose the taxes, we also, therefore, choose the taxes, and so even these subsidies come from voluntarily-contributed funds. I would side with what I think your position is, and that is that taxes are hardly voluntarily, or according to the volition of most taxpayers because of the clouded bureaucracy of our government, and so we’ll assume that these are involuntarily contributed. So the question that this boils down to: is it ever appropriate for a governing body to dictate the use of our money for the benefit of someone else, without our direct consent? Some say yes, some say no, most say “it depends on the situation.”
Obviously the Church feels that pursuing an education is a cause worthy of this practice - they use general tithing funds to significantly subsidize the tuition of each student at BYU - something like 7/8ths of the real cost of tuition. So the original letter “Don’t use Medicaid” was trying to use doctrine of the Church to prove that it’s not right for individuals to accept Medicaid or WIC while going to school, while it’s apparent that the Church doesn’t hold that view. You could argue that tithing funds are collecting voluntarily, but in my mind it’s the same issue as taxes. Really, we all have the choice to pay taxes or not. We could choose not to pay, and the only thing that would happen is that you’d get thrown in jail. Assume a member of the Church believed in God, that this was His Church, and that the things that He says are true. Then you can choose not to pay tithing, but you’ll burn at the last day. So we pay our tithing, and trust the General Authorities to use it wisely, which I believe they do. When we pay our taxes we trust government officials to spend it wisely, and I believe that in many cases they don’t - but is subsidizing health costs through WIC and Medicaid to poor college students where they miss the mark? What percentage of the federal government goes toward college students through Medicaid or WIC benefits, compared with other programs? Should there be no entitlements at all? If there should be some, which ones, and in what circumstances?
My point is, because a couple decides to use Medicaid or WIC does not make them deniers of the faith, or worse than an infidel, or prove that they’re not truly supporting their family. They are just as much so as a recipient of grants, scholarships, or any other subsidy from any other source.
Thanks for the email. Feel free to email back if you have further questions.
Brad
PS - I’ve never used Medicaid, WIC, Grants, subsidized loans, or received scholarships.
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February 23rd, 2007 at 2:55 pm
Great response.
February 26th, 2007 at 9:48 pm
Brad,
I think it is interesting that you qualified at the end of your statement that you have “never used Medicaid, WIC, Grants, subsidized loans, or received scholarships.” Do you think that that makes your point more or less valid? Or was there some other kind of motivator behind your statement?
February 27th, 2007 at 8:29 am
The majority of the letters to the editor responding to the issue implied that those who were defending it were doing so because they were already using it, including Benjamin’s response to me. I think it does further validate the point, because my views were formed without any financial incentive. But I just wanted to clear it up to them that I was an un-biased outside observer to the program.