Bill Clinton’s comments about Medicaid have produced a flurry of posts on the Medicaid cuts proposed in the GOP budgets. While many of their proposed cuts are vague, the cuts for Medicaid have been quite specific. First, to see the magnitude of the cuts, the following graph from Aaron Carroll comes from data in the MArch, 2012 CBO report assessing the Ryan budget.
Many people think of Medicaid as medical welfare for the lazy men and women who do not want to work. In fact, it is pretty difficult for non-pregnant adults to get on Medicaid. Where does the money go? Again, from Carroll.
Cutting Medicaid means cutting care for the disabled, pregnant women, children and our elderly. Medicaid is already the lowest paying comprehensive insurance. If it is to be cut more, which of the groups it actually covers should we cut?
Most of the Medicaid spending on the elderly is for long-term nursing home care, and many of its beneficiaries come from middle-class families. I’m trying to be neutral about this, because you don’t have to be rock-bottom poor to be unable to afford nursing home care; a year of paying for it out of pocket can MAKE you rock-bottom poor. But still, it isn’t what Medicaid was originally designed for.