According to the link, Ill focused on removing persons ineligible for Medicaid from Medicaid. Not a bad idea, but it's not cutting medical. According to the link, Penn whacked at all "welfare" programs, but they're laying off teachers too, and nobody seems to know exactly what the state's doing.
But, overall, I thought it insane to enroll more people in Medicaid rather than provide voucher support for private insurance .... which doesn't cover as much as Medicaid.
Good thought.
I just found it interesting that Blue states were finally getting after some of the "fat".
Wonder where JakeTheFake went ????
Traditionally, Medicaid was what morphed out of aid to "aged blind and disabled." The biggest cost driver for states has always been old people in nursing homes. State's ameliorated costs by "taking" the old folks' homes once the last remaining resident was gone. The second biggest cost was the folks who are chronically ill. Such as paralyzed folks or folks with kidney disease requiring dialysis and transplant. No private insurer will touch these folks with a ten foot pole.
The third group is just the poor people. It's the least costly, but this is where parents with kids with strep use ER's as primary care facilities. It's "free" so they don't care about the actual cost.
Actually, the GOP has supported Schips which put healthy working poor kids on the rolls, and that has been effective in keeping kids more healthy, and less costly, that in the past. And, overall, it's not that big a cost driver. And, hey, who hates kids?
But, taking a person who has a job, but isn't getting HC benefits, and putting them on essentially the public dole has civil implications. Moreover, my kid actually had less stuff covered 100% than a kid whose parent was a deadbeat, and then with Schips, a parent who hadn't put in the years of training I put in. I don't hate the kid, but I resent paying for him to have better care than my kid.
I don't object to doing like Arkansas is doing, and taking the obamacare dollars to make vouchers to letting uninsured workers buy insurance.
Still, rural poor states (Red) spend nearly all their tax money on Medicaid and Educ. When Medicaid expands, either taxes to up, or educ gets cut. It's not a mystery why these states aren't jumping the broom for Obamacare.
I don't have a problem with Jake. But that's between you and him. I respect and enjoy your posts.