"Participation rates don't align very well with poverty or unemployment numbers on a state by state look, meaning the system is obviously throwing money away."

"Participation rates don't align very well with poverty or unemployment numbers on a state by state look, meaning the system is obviously throwing money away." Sorry, can you explain your logic here? Enrollment is handled by the states, and procedures in different states are very different. (There are also federal funding incentives for states to reduce enrollment.) You would expect different states to have very different participation rates.