precisely because of the example I gave you about my Grandma
First of all, you're generalizing from one element of Medicaid, what they pay for nursing home care for the destitute. Most of Medicaid is for young families. They go to the same doctors that you and I do, at least in my state. Medicaid actually covers more things than Medicare does although up until the recent legislation passage it paid less. I posted a clip to that effect. Just because you think the system should have put your grandmother up in an upscale nursing home doesn't make the entire program inadequate. As for your grandmother's experience, I don't see how you can attribute that to Medicaid. Almost all nursing homes are places you wouldn't want to have to stay. I've never seen one that was nice, regardless of who was paying. That's the nature of the beast. The idea is to stay out of them.
because I want for Americans what I personally am able to afford. However, I know it is not realistic to expect that we as a country can afford that for every American
You said you've done some long term care planning. What was the difference in price between your grandmother's nursing home and the amount of insurance you arranged? What do you think would be realistic for the country to afford if not as much as you've arranged? I assume you wouldn't expect special treatment for your own family members, so what would you expect "every American" to get ? How much is good enough?
I'm just trying to get a handle on what would need to be done to Medicaid to meet your standards, just what is the shortfall.
I think if we diverted some resources from war and the military, we could easily afford it.
There are a lot of things in this country that aren't good enough. There's not enough money consumed by war to take care of all of them. If you could divert that money, why would nursing home care for the indigent be the priority?
BTW, are you aware of how people have long divested their assets so they wouldn't have to spend their own money on nursing home care but rather could give it to their heirs while the taxpayers foot the nursing home bill? It was quite the scandal a while back. Haven't heard much about it lately. You have to wonder, though, if that's not a part of why Medicaid benefits aren't more generous. |
