(CNSNews.com) -- When asked if it was a good thing that 42% of the babies born in America in 2020 were born on Medicaid, Sen. Rick Scott (R- Fla.) said, “I think it’s good we have a safety net program, but what we’d like is for people to have a job and be self-sufficient, not dependent upon government.”
At the Capitol on Thursday, CNSNews.com asked Sen. Rick Scott, “According to the CDC, 42% of the babies born in America in 2020 were born on Medicaid. Is that a good thing?”
The senator said, “Well, I think it’s good we have a safety net program, but what we‘d like is for people to have a job and be self-sufficient, not dependent upon government. So, I’m glad we have a safety net. But, you know, what I try to do is try to help people get jobs -- when I was governor [of Florida] -- so people had self-sufficiency. I think—you know, I grew up in a poor family and I know my family wanted to be self-sufficient.”
CNSNews.com followed up with the question, “40.5% of the babies were born to unmarried mothers. Do you think that’s related to the high number born on Medicaid?”
“Well … I was born to a single mom, so there’s a lot of moms that do a great job on their own, but I think it’s always beneficial if, you know, you have two-parent families,” said Scott.
Last week, the CDC released new data on births in 2020 listing the statistics of babies born on Medicaid, born to married and unmarried mothers, the race of the mothers, as well as other relevant information.
Women who gave birth were either on Medicaid or used private insurance as the main source of paying for the delivery. While births on private insurance increased from 50.2% the year before to 50.6%, the percentage of Medicaid births decreased from 42.1% to 42.0%.
The percentage of babies who were born to unmarried women overall in 2020 increased 1% from the year prior to 40.5%.
The CDC also created tables that list the births of babies to unmarried mothers beginning in the 1940’s. The percentage at that time for all races was only 3.8% of unmarried women who gave birth. In 1999 it hit 33%.
“Authorized by Title XIX of the Social Security Act, Medicaid was signed into law in 1965 alongside Medicare. All states, the District of Columbia, and the U.S. territories have Medicaid programs designed to provide health coverage for low-income people,” the Medicaid.gov website says. “Although the Federal government establishes certain parameters for all states to follow, each state administers their Medicaid program differently, resulting in variations in Medicaid coverage across the country.”