Dropping the Pilot

I've run across several articles and blogs that discuss the possibility of Texas withdrawing their Medicaid program.

Sixty percent of Texas Medicaid is funded by federal funds. Even with the funding the program receives from the federal government, the Texas Medicaid program is a huge expense for the state.

I suppose this is true for most states.

Medicaid programs do good things for people in dire need. There are well over three million children enrolled in the Texas Medicaid program, as well as adults with disabilities and what one blog referred to as "impoverished" Texans.

The Helpless
I'm sympathetic toward very ill children who need care that their families simply can't afford. I can't imagine being in that position (as either parent or ill child), but it's good that a program is available that will help fund the care of a child in need. I don't begrudge them assistance.

It is hardly possible to build anything if frustration, bitterness and a mood of helplessness prevail. (Lech Walesa)

The Hopeless
There are also adults with disabilities who cannot work, and so need assistance with medical issues. Are there some with legitimate, debilitating illnesses that make these unfortunates seek assistance from state programs? Without a doubt.

But then there are those who are perfectly capable of some form of work, and some form of productive activity, but who play the "illness card" that enables them to receive benefits -- both medical and income -- for little or no effort. It's their "disabilities," you see.

I personally have known several people who fall into that category. I don't know them for long, because I resent parasites.

Sure I am a freeloader but my morals permit that. (Anonymous)

From Each According to His Ability ...
To each according to his need. This is an appalling philosophy. I remember talking to someone several years ago who was adamant that the legend of Robin Hood was one of the worst and most irresponsible crimes perpetrated by humanity on humanity.

She maintained that it was an abomination to encourage the mindset that taking from the productive "rich" to give to the undeserving (and useless) poor was moral and right. She wasn't wealthy; she worked for a living, and wasn't looking for or expecting hand-outs. But she did resent that some of the taxes she paid went toward the upkeep of society parasites.

Yes, she was one of those who adamantly supported welfare turning into workfare, and drastically limiting the free ride too many get.

I was, at the time, surprised; I thought, at the time, that she was being a bit cold. But as the years have passed, more and more people are getting an entitlement mentality, and I now see what she was saying. I also find that I agree.

The welfare of each is bound up in the welfare of all. (Helen Keller)

Why does society today perpetuate the myth that we are all our brothers' keepers? Why are those who work obligated to fund the lives of those who don't? I don't mind that some of the taxes I pay help those who are in legitimate need, but just because someone is "impoverished," doesn't mean they should be entitled to a free ride at my expense.

There are millions and millions who work, contributing to society and taxes, and they don't have health insurance because they can't afford it. Do they get state benefits? No. They don't qualify because they're too wealthy.

Huh?

Let me get this straight: The productive members of society can't benefit from what they pay in by getting assistance from the state? How is that right?

Aliens Among Us
One blog had a comment from someone who said that it's okay for Texas to drop Medicaid because of all the illegals in it.

Illegal is anything that is against the law including drug trafficking, smuggling, terrorism or crossing the border into a country. Undocumented is anything that can no longer be verified including unemployed American workers who no longer qualify for unemployment benefits and are no longer counted in statistics. What a sorry nation we are becoming when we allow corporate political correctness to pervade our daily speech. Illegal means illegal. (Peter Romanenko)

I'm a curious person, so I checked to see if Texas Medicaid has any citizenship requirements, and it does. There is, however, an exception. A pregnant illegal can get medical coverage through the Medicaid program. So Texas citizens are footing the bill for illegals to have children in the state.

Illegal means illegal. Pregnant illegals need to be sent back to their home countries, not permitted to leech from a system into which they do not and are not likely to ever pay.

True charity is the desire to be useful to others without thought of recompense. (Emanuel Swedenborg)

I'm not opposed to being charitable. But what I am opposed to is having my pocket picked by lazy, useless people.

Charity is injurious unless it helps the recipient to become independent of it. (John D. Rockefeller)

Exactly, John. The government "support" programs today don't encourage the recipients to become independent of them; they only encourage the vast majority participating to work the system as long as they can.

Capital punishment is as fundamentally wrong as a cure for crime as charity is wrong as a cure for poverty. (Henry Ford)

I disagree with Henry Ford on his capital punishment stance, but agree absolutely that charity is wrong as a cure for poverty. The more people get for free, the more they want (and the more they think they're entitled to have). Welfare, disability compensation, and Medicaid are charity.

Government Wants Poor People to Die
That's a ridiculous statement, but bleeding-heart liberals say things like that when entitlement programs are threatened.

I've often wondered how much of their own time and money liberals donate to their causes; it's more advantageous for their purposes to have the tax-payers fund their generosity. In their minds, society owes the poor (and the lazy), and society should give 'til it hurts.

Ladies and gentlemen of the liberal persuasion, I have news for you: It hurts. In fact, it's been hurting for quite a while now. And I, for one, have had enough of throwing money at people who make no effort to help themselves.

Tightening Up In Texas
The Texas legislators who want to bid farewell to the Medicaid program know that they'll have to find an alternative that will continue to address the needs of the truly needy.

Texas won't be dropping the pilot by dropping out of Medicaid, if that's what they end up doing. What Texas would accomplish is escaping the too-broad and too-expensive federal guidelines and requirements of a program that's too easy to milk.

In participating in the Medicaid program, and receiving federal funds for that program, Texas is obligated to play by federal rules, which are so loose that the state pays out more than it should. Texas has to offer Medicaid entitlement programs (and dollars) to individuals they might, if they had the power, (correctly) reject.

My main concern is what such a move would do to the DME industry. And this is something that suppliers in Texas need to think about as they keep an eye on the future of Texas Medicaid.