Have you ever heard a more quintessentially republican idea that this?
...federal Medicaid dollars would be redirected to help Texans pay for insurance that isn't Medicaid. It could be employer-sponsored insurance or private coverage.
At first I thought, hmm, this reminds me of a school vouchers program but for health care. But someone told me that I have first thought wrong disease, so I went to my second thought: This is like a school vouchers program if private schools were notorious for denying education to everyone the first five times they showed up. And if the voucher didn't cover the cost of tuition anyway. And if all private schools were run by like four huge corporations. Then I started to get mad, and my third thought was: Let's take all the federal Medicaid money the state is entitled to, do a little mathity-math, and cut everyone a check! You can spend it on health insurance like a chump, but I'm getting an iPhone. Constant access to WebMd will insure my health.
Not to go all Ivins on you guys, but can someone get out the pans! Is this the best we can come up with to take care of the health of Texans less fortunate in the money-department? Divert money away from Medicaid and give it to satanic insurance companies? Am I missing something about this that isn't a horrible idea, logistically and ideologically? Medicaid has its issues, but it's a relatively solid program. Doctors get paid, hospitals get paid, it's accountable, regulated, and sorta-kinda transparent. We should put effort into helping eligible people enroll and use it! I'm just saying.
"Hospitals are getting the same money," Hawkins said. "They're just getting it from a different source."
Oh, nevermind. It's the same money. I feel better.
And if health care policy wonkery doesn't crank your outrage chain, try this:
Actually, the idea behind it is really good. They'll be using money already in the system in a more efficient and effective way. Some of the money that has historically come to Texas for the hospital care that uninsured people use but don't pay for will instead go toward purchasing health insurance for them. So instead of going to the ER for something a doc could handle in the office or ending up there because of an avoidable condition they couldn't afford to seek care for, they will have insurance so they can get preventive and primary care.
RSS
Oh that's just stupid. Private insurers are some of the biggest wasters of public capital ever. As soon as their SG&A falls below that of Medicare/ Medicaid this might be a good idea.
For such pro-business folks, these people seem uniquely incapable of understanding the most fundamental of financial concepts which is to USE THE LOW COST PROVIDER.
Only in the US today would that be a government run program.