<<Suppose they put a requirement on Medicaid that the able-bodied put in five hours a month of community service as a prerequisite? How many would drop that coverage until they got very sick?>>
Hi I-Node. It's been awhile.
When you made this statement, I got the impression you are thinking that people on Medicaid don't work?
If so, this is not the case. Medicaid eligibility is based on income plus other things like assets in the bank, value of the home, and special health conditions, such as blindness, mental deficiencies, etc. There are numerous combinations of factors that determine an individual's eligibility. Most people should get assistance in ferreting out all the ways to maximize benefits because under the heading of Medicaid, there are many quirky separate programs. For example, one can earn or have income about twice as much if one is applying for a "temporary" Medicaid program. "Temporary Medicaid" would be situations such as pregnancy or cancer treatment or a severe accidental injury.
At any rate, plenty of recipients also work and work full-time. My guess is that almost all who are able-bodied and under 65 are working. In states that expanded, an individual can earn up to $16,000. In states that did not expand, it drops down to around $12,000 of earned income but that person can also get the earned income tax credit and can get the Obamacare subsidies to use toward purchasing their own policy outside of the Medicaid system. So this creates kind of a wash, but those in states that did not expand probably end up better off in that they will find more docs and clinics that will accept their insurance.
When I was younger, I helped, through doing church work, people in need to find either church welfare programs or state welfare programs that they would qualify for. So there was a time that I knew a lot about Arkansas Medicaid. In recent years I got familiar again when I helped a younger woman who was one of my mother's caregivers get on Medicaid when she got cancer. I was surprised by how much more generous Medicaid had become. She even got a stipend for travelling to and from chemo treatments, radiation, etc. It was either $20 or $40 a day. |
