The Problem with Medicaid by Pat Conrad MD
The position of Authenticmedicine.com, as far as I remember, has been in favor of a safety net to care for those in dire circumstances. Even a laissez-faire libertarian/objectivist like myself supports that, though never, ever, at all, at the federal level. Social programs and entitlements at the federal level guarantee a lack of individual recipient accountability, as Medicare has so aptly proven. Safety nets need to be at the most local level possible to promote individual accountability, which in turn is necessary for a patient to respond to treatment and improve. That’s just common sense.
And yes, I know there are plenty of decent, working people having a tough time, or down on their luck, or those truly disabled, who are on Medicaid. And I also know that there are a bunch of slothful, entitled bums of all ages and lack of infirmity that are also on the program. Medicaid is choking state budgets, and the states always have their hands out for federal dollars to ease the assaults on property and income tax payers. So it’s a good thing when individual states try to get a handle on the problem.
As Medicaid was expanded in many states as part of the ACA, some of them tied that expansion to an attempt at accountability, including monthly premiums, health improvement encouragements, threats to suspend coverage, and heaven help us, gift cards. In Arkansas, only 20% of Medicaid recipients are paying the $13 dollar/month co-pays. “‘Families have to make tough choices every day about whether they buy food, pay the electric bill, their rent, or pay premiums,’ said Rich Huddleston, executive director of Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families. He notes that even the state’s $13 monthly premium is burdensome.” That’s THIRTEEN FREAKING DOLLARS over a month, for a population with ample rates of obesity, excessive fertility, alcohol, and tobacco use.
Able-bodied recipients don’t have to give a damn, because they know they can just pop into their local ER anytime they please, for any reason, thanks to EMTALA. Thanks a lot, federal government.
While all of us recognize the need for a true safety net, we are being exploited by a sclerotic federal bureaucracy, paid or elected do-gooders, media hand-wringers, a lot of bleeding heart voters, and a lot of lazy, apathetic recipients.
Doctors want patients to get/be well, and no one wants to turn their back on someone truly sick or injured. But without patients having skin in the game, there is no shot at making any of this better.
Your thoughts?
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I see a lot of assumptions and not a lot of facts here. What percentage of Medicaid spending is going to the slothful, entitled bums? Is it 10%? That would be a lot. Fuck the other 90%, right? We cannot possibly help them if we have freeloaders. I have heard lots of anecdotes, but no actual statistics to support this point of view. Also, I cannot imagine $13 making that much difference to me. The fact that I cannot imagine it must mean it is not true. Nobody could possibly be that hard up for money. Of course I only think that because I have never been poor so I lack empathy for them. <=true story
Let me be clear. I have no real opinion about Medicaid. I do not know how it works and it does not affect me directly at all. But I know biased opinions when I see them. This is not at all persuasive. What else you got?
Oh not much. Just over two decades of watching entitled, obese, cig-smoking, multi-kid having, “disabled” waddle into the ER, sneering at those obligated to serve them, bitching about any service deemed to be slow or inadequate though its free, all the while knowing a miss could end up at least as a complaint to administration, or worse, a lawsuit, while bleeding hearts chide me over a perceived lack of empathy.
Yes, but what percentage of them? Enough that we should stop helping all the others? I never said anyone but me lacked empathy. What I think is lacking here is perspective.
Good goobers – read what I wrote. Where is your empathy for doctors, nurses, and taxpayers? I did NOT say abolish the safety net. I said that for it to work properly there needs to be patient accountability, and $13 freaking dollars a month is not going to break anyone. I cannot put it more plainly than that.
Medicaid is a fraud. Those receiving it think they have insurance until they need to use it and find a doctor willing to accept the payment and hassles. Then, the average citizen thinks docs are being compensated to the level of their own insurance when the reimbursements do not cover expenses, especially considering all of the “red tape”. It would be far better to make time-limited payments into HSA’s with a superimposed commercial catastrophic policy.
I couldn’t have said it better! I totally agree.