Article: Save Medicare and Medicaid by Issuing Debt-Free United States Money

President Johnson signing the Medicare amendment. by Wikimedia Commons

Medicare and Medicaid are in danger of further cuts in the years to come.

Here's another option:
Save Medicare and Medicaid by issuing new debt-free United States Money. For example, issue $1000 per capita (roughly 2% of GNP). Grant a portion of this total to states, in proportion to their Medicaid expenses.

Sound too good to be possible? Consider:

Article I Section 8 of the US Constitution gives Congress the power "to coin money." This occurrence of the verb "coin" can and has been applied in the general sense "create." For example, the three Legal Tender Acts (1862-3) were upheld in the course of Supreme Court cases Hepburn v. Griswold (1870), Knox v. Lee (1871), and Juilliard v. Greenman (1884). United States Notes are still in circulation today (look for the red seal).

1953 $2 note by Wikimedia Commons

There are two very good reasons to fund Medicare and Medicaid by issuing new debt-free United States Money:
1) avoid federal and state cuts to these programs
2) reduce the federal deficit and state budget difficulties

The debt ceiling dispute takes as given that it's tax-or-borrow-or-cut. Why not think outside that box?

Issue a reasonable amount of new debt-free United States Money and spend it into the real economy for health care. This would have a non-inflationary, revitalizing effect on the physical economy. Yes, the banks will lose a little business. Companies are not human beings. The human beings will be living in a better economy.