Since our nation’s founding, Americans have valued hard work and self-sufficiency. With near record-low unemployment and seven million open jobs, the American Dream has never been more attainable. So why is the government fast-tracking its citizens on to welfare instead of connecting people with opportunities?

Across the country, state officials are using auto-enrollment to funnel people already on food stamps into Medicaid, a massive government-provided healthcare program intended to serve low-income folks and the disabled. They’re also using automatic renewals for existing Medicaid enrollees to keep them in dependency.