Americans-thoughts on Medicaid?

[ahcigar1]

I agree that it is okay to have medicaid if you actually NEED it. So many people abuse the system & I believe that it is too easy to receive. Florida became the first state to begin drug testing in order for one to receive eligibility for benefits. I wish the remaining 49 states would do the same. That way we can get rid of all the people who do abuse the system.

Totally agree with you. I believe KY has also picked this new rule up as well. Would love to see and won't be surprised to see many refused the coverage for failing the tests.

 

[DukesAngel]

I know my state talked about passing it. Not sure if they did or not. Think I would know that hehe

 

[DukesAngel]

Ah Snopes:

https://www.snopes.com/politics/medical/kentucky.asp

 

[ahcigar1]

Ah Snopes:

https://www.snopes.com/politics/medical/kentucky.asp

Ah thanks. I have much of my family still in KY and they had said they heard that it had been passed there that is why I mentioned it. I will let them know of that it isn't true yet.

 

[Andypanda6570]

I think if people need it then yes they should have it. There are people that don't make enough money everywhere or people that lost their job or people who didn't plan on getting pregnant or sick and why should they be denied?
As with any government program or any program for that matter there will be abuse of it, but that does not mean it should be taken away, but i do agree with guidelines to it What about the mom who is working 2 jobs and still can't make it? There are a lot of hardworking proud people who would never have seen themselves on it , but what choice do they have. Times are hard right now and I thank God every day my husband has a good job and we are ok. People can't find jobs right now there are none out there, it's hard .You can still work and get medicaid, sometimes your job does not give you health insurance, it depends on the income as to whether you will get medicaid . I think Medicaid is a good thing, could use some updating and stricter guidelines to ensure the right people are getting it , but a good thing to have. JMO

 

[BabySeal]

I wasn't supposed to be able to get pregnant and had lost my private insurance a year before I conceived. Needless to say it was a huge help, and I qualified while working.

I think there is nothing wrong if both parties are working and private insurance just isnt an option. I mean in my case, I was working and had a good enough job to pay all of my bills, buy a house, car...all on my own. But private insurance would have been around 600/month for me due to preexisting conditions.

As for TTC and purposely abusing the system, no.

 

[amygwen]

I have Medicaid for my LO, I have a job too which I could get private insurance through but it would cost me $400/month, which is more than half what I make a month. I pay my taxes, I deserve to use any government assistance that I can get, which I think anyone else who needs it should be able to get it.

ETA: I'd just like to add that I did have Medicaid with my LO when I was pregnant with him, had I not had Medicaid, I would've had to pay out $18,000 for my c-section and other costs, which is unbelievable, that's more than I make a year!

 

[deafgal]

personally, I think there should be a national healthcare (that is, everyone get medicaid!) There are so many people who went on disability/SSI/etc because they couldn't afford treatments even with insurance. For example, I am totally deaf without my hearing aid/Cochlear. My insurance don't cover hearing aids (medicaid don't always cover it either) and they barely coverage cochlear processor when it need to be replace - 60% coverage out of $7,000 processor so do the math on how much I will have to pay out of my pocket. If I was working, I could lose my job for not hearing! so If I lost my job because I can't afford it out of my pocket and I am not qualify for medicaid because I did have a job (some deaf aren't qualify for that reason), I am stuck, especially no income is coming in!!! Same with many people with other medical conditions. Their health condition have worsen due to unable afford it even with insurance to the point that your tax money is paying for their SSI before they even reach their retirement. they are unable to work anymore..

Insurance rarely cover anything in my experience.

 

[deafgal]

Ah Snopes:

https://www.snopes.com/politics/medical/kentucky.asp

Ah thanks. I have much of my family still in KY and they had said they heard that it had been passed there that is why I mentioned it. I will let them know of that it isn't true yet.

https://www.cnn.com/2011/US/07/02/florida.drug.tests.welfare/index.html?hpt=hp_t2

 

[deafgal]

I am 100% ok with people using Medicaid for accidents or pregnancies that were unplanned. However harsh this may be, I feel like if you can't afford insurance for any part of your pregnancy for whatever reason, it isn't the right time for you to be trying to conceive. Girls I'm friends with on Facebook openly brag and talk about how they had their entire families (these are married women, folks) on Medicaid--several had multiple planned children on it. It is really, really frustrating. I also believe it needs to be heavily cut back. America can NOT afford to pay for everyone's pregnancies, births, and children just because families want a baby NOW and aren't rational enough to wait until a much better time for them financially and situationally (waiting for your own insurance, etc... Just wait for it to come through permanently before TTC, responsibility people!!)

actually, American can't afford children who are being neglected due to health and food. And can't afford not offer healthcare for women (these children can lose their mama) and children.

A few irresponsible mothers (like octmom) should not be preventing others from accessing healthcare. It's never the child's fault for their mother's decision anyway.

It doesn't matter if it is planned or unplanned.. personally I like all pregnancy planned as children are healthier that way, emotionally and physically. I am willing to offer sexual and pregnancy healthcare for all women. The more access they have, the more likely they will take care of themselves (including to access birth control), Their children will learn from their mothers too and perhaps have less pregnancy and more education because of healthy attitude.

I don't know why unplanned pregnancy get less judgments from people than planned pregnancy.

 

[Ashley8806]

I don't agree with you that the unplanned pregnancies result in less healthy children.

DH and I got pregnant with DD1 on our honeymoon. We weren't trying, I was still on birth control. However, now she is ahead of most children her age as far as learning goes, and hardly ever sick minus the occasional cold/flu that goes around once in a while. We raise her in a healthy atmosphere and she is growing up to be a great little girl. While I *think* I see what you are trying to say - as maybe single mothers who drink/smoke, etc during their pregnancy because they weren't planned and don't know, that statement was a pretty broad one that was a bit hurtful.

 

[deafgal]

Thats what I mean: lose weight, take vitamins, eat healthy, avoid drugs, cigarettes, heavy alcohol, etc. Yes, unplanned pregnancy can be equally (physically and emotionally) healthy too. but do you think it is better to prepare yourself for pregnancy?

Beside, I was responding to who support medicaid for unplanned pregnancy but not fine with those who do planned.I think it should support both without any judgments.

 

[Ashley8806]

Yes I agree it is better to prepare yourself, but in the end sometimes things happen, as in our case. We weren't going to try for another year, but I guess someone else had other plans for us, and we couldn't be happier. We did have to use Medicaid for her, but I already described why in a previous post.

I agree that it should be available for both unplanned and planned, without judgement. You just never know what might come up these days to put you in a financial bind

 

[kareha]

If medicaid was less widely available, then you'd have for example, teen moms single mothers (and pretty much everyone that isn't doing so financially well) who has a baby owing 10-20k to hospitals and health care providers. I'm not saying it's a great system but it does help people.

I'd love to see what loopholes the woman with a Benz and designer handbags jumped though to get Medicaid, Food Stamps, WIC, etc. I won't believe it until I see it.

I'm still waiting to hear back from the Medicaid office on my case status. They don't seem that eager to grant me aid or get in contact with me. And I'm actually doubting that I'll get it now, because I'm a college student with loans supporting me (and my mother) because I've had a pretty difficult life.

 

[deafgal]

before you judge, make sure those things were not gifts (or found at a very good sale, or thrift stores/yard sales....my older sister found alot of designer purses through that way)

It would be the doctors and staffs that will be robbed if medicaid was not available. Because by law, they are required to treat people - insurance or not.

 

[TriChick]

Likewise, I would LOVE to see loopholes that any Benz driver goes through to get Medicaid. My sister applied for Medicaid after being denied insurance by every private insurance company due to benign brain tumor she had when she was 19. She and her husband live a comfortable but not luxurious lifestyle, and she was denied both Medicaid and state health insurance. She is a stay at home mother, and her husband's insurance was willing to cover everyone in the household except her, due to her 7-year old pre-existing condition. Because of this, she has acquired medical bills from 3 C-sections with no assistance. If you take away the ability for someone with limited income to receive maternity and delivery assistance, you perpetuate their financial hardship, plain and simple. For someone who genuinely qualifies for Medicaid, the bills from an uncomplicated vaginal delivery prove to be overwhelming, let alone if a C-section is required. It is hard for me to understand how a person from lower-economic status is less deserving of financial assistance than their middle-class counterpart. In my opinion, a woman's right to conceive and bear a child should NOT be connected to her financial success, nor does it define how she will be as a mother. There are many contradictions that float around regarding health care in the US. Many times the ones who call for reform of the part of the recipients of government assisted health care are the same who also demand a decrease on other assistance programs that would help offset the massive medical debt acquired after an uninsured delivery. This creates the endless cycle of poverty that many are quick to blame on laziness or lack of personal initiative. I just thank God that no one put restrictions on my mother's reproductive choices due to her economic status at the time of my conception, and I'm sure that my sister feels the same.

 

[JASMAK]

I'm from Canada...free medical here, plus I have extended benefits through my work (private rooms, dental, eye glasses, orthodontic, long term dissability, prescriptions paid for etc). I just think its REALLY SAD that any country, but espesially the USA cannot get it together enough to have equal medical coverage for everyone. I broke my back in the USA, in Maui. First question, literally was not my name, my age, or what happened....it was, do I have a credit card? It just feels like a business, not a right. It made me sick. USA is not 3rd world...I just dont get why they treat their citizens like 3rd world.

PS, Part of my extended work benefits was out of country insurance...or I would have owed over 100K for my fractured back. I paid nothing.

 

[deafgal]

they do it in the name of "freedom" they don't want their hard earned tax money paying for someone else. they will often bring up charities when asked about people who can't afford it but charities only work around christmas time when everyone is in a giving spirit

 

[alaskagrown]

I've benefitted from Medicaid three times in my life. Two times when I was a young child, I needed medical treatment that cost over 250k. In America, it doesn't take much to rack up a bill that high. My parents earned well over the income limit for Medicaid, but they made a special exception for my case. Who the hell has 250k to treat their sick child?! I also needed the same treatment again a few years later and it cost another 250k. Thank God for Medicaid.

I also qualified for Medicaid while I was pregnant. My pregnancy was unplanned. I coincidentally fell pregnant the same month I was on a 30-day round of antibiotics. I have a primary insurance, so they covered the first 80% of the bill while Medicaid picked up the rest. My LO is on Medicaid until her first birthday.

I need to see a doctor right now, but can't afford to. I haven't been able to breathe out of my right nasal passage for over a year and I'm losing my hearing in my right ear as well. I saw an ENT while I was pregnant. He told me my symptoms sounded like one of three things - a tumor (?!?!!), polyps, or an enlarged adenoid that needs to be surgically removed. First of all, I need a CT scan...which I can't afford. Second of all, I know I won't be able to afford surgery. I just have to hope it's nothing to serious. GULP.

I'm jealous of other first-world countries who have universal health care. Their health care is not 'free' - it is incorporated into their taxes. But still, my dad pays 40% of his income to taxes PLUS an additional $800/month for insurance! And our insurance doesn't even cover the entire bill!