Republican State Sen. Matt Murphy appeared on WTTW's Chicago Tonight yesterday to discuss the budget crisis and, wouldn't you know it, he revived his claim that Medicaid spending is a huge drag on our state finances and Rod Blagojevich is to blame for it.  Watch it:

A few quick rebuttals: 1) The largest Medicaid expansions took place under the administration of Republican Gov. George Ryan -- not Blagojevich.  The system grew the fastest under Ryan, as well.  It'd be nice if reporters pointed this out once and a while; 2) When measuring Medicaid enrollees as a percent of the total state population, Illinois ranks in the middle-of-the-pack nationwide; 3) In FY 2006 (the last year for which data is available), only nine states spent less per Medicaid enrollee than Illinois.