NEBRASKA MEDICAID RECIPIENTS COULD FILL MEMORIAL STADIUM THREE TIMES OVER

Go Big Red Ink! As we focus on Saturday night's big game, Nebraska vs. Michigan, and also on the upcoming elections, consider the impact of the longtime weak economy on the cost of taxpayer-provided services such as Medicaid.

Joblessness, high prices and high taxes create more need for health care for low-income kids and adults, blind and disabled people, and the aged, when they can no longer care for themselves. The economy's stress shows most of all in statistics like Medicaid.

So get this: there are 235,354 Nebraskans receiving Medicaid benefits, according to the 2011 annual Medicaid report of the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services.

Think about it: Medicaid recipients would just about fill our gargantuan Memorial Stadium three times over.



For many years, everybody has giggled about the fact that, when the Huskers are playing at home, Memorial Stadium becomes the third-largest "city" in Nebraska, after Omaha and Lincoln.

Well, if the economy continues southward, and Medicaid numbers go up just a few ticks, the Medicaid population will outstrip Lincoln (258,379 in the 2010 Census).

Let's huddle -- taxpayers, politicians, bureaucrats, medical leaders. Let's elect political quarterbacks who can call new plays to turn this situation around. Let's get our economy back on track so we can all go, fight, win.