Monday, March 04, 2013

Gaming Medicaid

 Republicans, it seems, are willing to support Medicaid expansion, Obamacare as they call it, providing their side gets a hefty cut.  Paul Krugman explains how the Right intends to graft a little graft onto Medicaid and he uses the pretty glaring example of Florida's governor as an object lesson.   When it comes to rightwing government, it's corporatism that matters, not conservatism.

Consider the case of Florida, whose governor, Rick Scott, made his personal fortune in the health industry. At one point, by the way, the company he built pleaded guilty to criminal charges, and paid $1.7 billion in fines related to Medicare fraud. Anyway, Mr. Scott got elected as a fierce opponent of Obamacare, and Florida participated in the suit asking the Supreme Court to declare the whole plan unconstitutional. Nonetheless, Mr. Scott recently shocked Tea Party activists by announcing his support for the Medicaid expansion.

But his support came with a condition: he was willing to cover more of the uninsured only after receiving a waiver that would let him run Medicaid through private insurance companies. Now, why would he want to do that?

Don’t tell me about free markets. This is all about spending taxpayer money, and the question is whether that money should be spent directly to help people or run through a set of private middlemen.

And despite some feeble claims to the contrary, privatizing Medicaid will end up requiring more, not less, government spending, because there’s overwhelming evidence that Medicaid is much cheaper than private insurance. Partly this reflects lower administrative costs, because Medicaid neither advertises nor spends money trying to avoid covering people. But a lot of it reflects the government’s bargaining power, its ability to prevent price gouging by hospitals, drug companies and other parts of the medical-industrial complex.  

But why would you insist on privatizing a health program that is already public, and that does a much better job than the private sector of controlling costs? The answer is pretty obvious: the flip side of higher taxpayer costs is higher medical-industry profits.

So ignore all the talk about too much government spending and too much aid to moochers who don’t deserve it. As long as the spending ends up lining the right pockets, and the undeserving beneficiaries of public largess are politically connected corporations, conservatives with actual power seem to like Big Government just fine.

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

New FRP Bypass APK
Download Mini Militia Mod
Working Mini militia Hack APK

bluesky said...

your blogspot site is very goood. and watch mostly these sites becasue different working of the movies and online channels with android emulators scoial networking
dj liker modded apk
tweakbox hd movies
terrarium tv box for pc

Arslan said...

i Am in love with this post
clash of magic
clash of magic
clash of magic s1

bluesky said...

Acmarket iOS
Appvally For iOS
Lucky Patcher Apk

Arslan said...


clashofclanscoc.com
clash of light Download
clash of light Apk

bluesky said...

blogger is innovative and nice sharing the information this blog through.
https://updrive.com
updrive
updrive.com

bluesky said...

well done grateful for sharing the information this post relates.
https://updrive.com
updrive
updrive.com


bluesky said...

Pay-per-download is a way to monetize your digital download, whether you're selling apps, digital content, or digital media. Click here to learn ...
pay per Download websites
Highest paying per Download
highest paying ppt sites

up-drive said...

Pay-per-download is a way to monetize your digital download, whether you're selling apps, digital content, or digital media. Click here to learn ...
updrives
https://updrives.com/blog
updrives

up-drive said...

Pay-per-download is a way to monetize your digital download, whether you're selling apps, digital content, or digital media. Click here to learn ...
updrives
https://updrives.com/blog
updrives

up-drive said...

https://updrives.blogspot.com/2019/07/updrives-best-alternative-of-mediafire.html
updrives
updrives.com

Bernadette said...

ptcl
ptcl dublicate bill
ptcl internet bill

Josef said...

Mobile mechanic near me is a garage on Wheels! offering everything from oil changes and tune ups to brake discs & pads replacement and jump-starts.

car mechanic near me
mobilecarmechanicnearme.co.uk