A New Soapbox

As all of you know I have quite a few soapboxes- vaccinations, homebirth, college educations, organic food, etc. well I have a new one- Medicaid. I have spent the majority of the last few days reading up on Medicaid- specifically Medicaid in New York at my fieldwork and have learned quite a few interesting things. For example the amount of money that goes into adminstration fees is astounding, the forms potential enrollees have to fill out are off the charts, not to mention the idiotic face to face interviews required to enroll in the state of New York. It is no wonder the system is hemorrhaging money- not to mention the people the system was originally created for- poor, disabled and oh by the way children, arent actually receiving the majority of the funds, after we pay for long term care for the elderly (what is Medicare paying for) and overhead costs the amount left over is pathetic. In addition to all of this did you know the care you receive while on Medicaid is actually better (in some opinions) than you would receive on a private health plan. Just in looking at the services covered compared with the health insurance I have I am shocked- I dont have dental (just wait until PwC) or eye care, but hey if I went on Medicaid I would... hmm... there is a problem- why get private health insurance when Medicaid is cheaper and has better coverage- if you are looking at it from a purely economic standpoint (dollar for dollar) Medicaid is the clear choice, now if you have a moral obligation not to abuse the system you would go the more ethical route (this is only for the people that can afford coverage but choose to not to), but really I am all for healthcare for everyone but it ticks me off that I go to work (back when I worked at a paying job), pay my taxes, and health insurance and have worse health coverage than what is offered for free from the federal government. I know that sounds like I dont care about poor people, the disabled and kids, come on people this is the second unpaid internship I am doing with those groups dont talk to me about not caring, but still I am frustrated, why is this happening, and if our mission is to provide health coverage why arent we doing it efficiently? If we cut some of the bureaucracy (and made things efficient), and rewrote the forms (so the average person could read them and we didnt have to pay someone to help them fill it out) we could provide coverage to more people- sure this doesn't create jobs but that isnt the purpose of Medicaid. I hope you are all ready for a Medicaid filled summer- and just a heads up we may branch out to food stamps- another broken system.