WASHINGTON — Mitt Romney’s controversial claim about 47 percent of Americans being “dependent on government” definitely hit a nerve — and sadly rang true.
Some of the statistics are even worse than what Romney was caught reciting in the hidden-camera video.
Nearly half of Americans — 49 percent — lived in households that received government benefits as of last year, according to the Census Bureau.
That’s up from about 44 percent when President Obama took office and way up from about 30 percent back in the 1980s.
It included a host of government entitlements to which Americans are growing accustomed, including Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, food stamps, rent subsidies and heating-fuel assistance.
Medicaid recipients rose from 15.8 percent of the population in 2010 to 16.5 percent in 2011.
A record 46.7 million Americans are living off food stamps, pushing the program’s cost last year to a record $75.7 billion — double what it cost five years ago.