[GreggT]

Originally Posted by Seguinite

I expect they meant food assistance. Easy enough to determine when they use the special card.

SNAP benefits and health care are two different things.

[Seguinite]

Originally Posted by GreggT

SNAP benefits and health care are two different things.

My comment was in response to the welfare comment. Nothing to do with health care.

[JoeJunior]

Medicaid in this state is limited to:
1. Pregnant women that are uninsured.
2. The disabled on SSI that never worked long enough to be on Social Security Disability (with Medicare.)
3. Uninsured children--40% of the state's children are on.

Unless you fall in these three groups, you doomed to remain uninsured, go on O'Bamacare or pay for BCBS out of pocket.

Unfortunately too many uninsured are choosing to use hospitals as unpaid clinics--especially on Friday and Saturday nights. And it's a shame that the Affordable Care Act comes with unaffordable deductibles and co-pays to where people remain uninsured. And Medicaid (and Medicare) payments to Alabama doctors and hospitals are so ridiculously low--based on their cost of doing business.

Even if someone has Medicaid, finding a quality physician willing to see you is very difficult. We're on Medicare with a great supplement, and my wife's doctor dropped all Medicare patients and is doing cash paying weight control.

[Mississippi Alabama Line]

Originally Posted by harry chickpea

No, it isn't ridiculous. The putting forward of an extreme in the other direction is simply a warning against extremes. I'm just as comfortable using Alabama's complete mess of a prison system as an example of a different type of extreme.

I've been following what happens in Vermont somewhat closely. There are examples of similar issues there as well, but when you want to warn about broken ball joints and tires falling off you don't cite examples of worn brake linings (that are also concerning). When you want to warn about excesses of government and spending on social support, you don't cite examples where current temporary solutions are keeping things running for now. Health care costs continue to go up. The homeless population continues to increase. The effect of those must be balanced against other areas of concern.

I'm going to point out something from personal experience. When conditions in Vermont as far as work, climate, and other things made it impossible for me to continue to live there... I moved. I moved until I found an environment that was supportive to my needs. It meant tearing up a lot of connections, it was by no means easy, but it was the way forward. When something similar happened to me in Florida, I did the same thing.

If I was concerned about what would happen to a loved one after my demise, being thoughtful and proactive now, setting things up so that there could be a cushion and support, would take priority over trying to change the course of a state government that has a history of acting in a certain way. I wasn't able to change Vermont or Florida.

Tend to agree. Mississippi also did not expand.

I would typically be against the non-expansion due to 'nOt TrUe CoNsErVaTiVe PoLiCy!!!', but in this case, it does unnecessarily burden the state. It's one of those things that is on the fence, and I'm not mad whether they did or didn't expand it.

[johnsonkk]

Originally Posted by JoeJunior

Medicaid in this state is limited to:
1. Pregnant women that are uninsured.
2. The disabled on SSI that never worked long enough to be on Social Security Disability (with Medicare.)
3. Uninsured children--40% of the state's children are on.

Unless you fall in these three groups, you doomed to remain uninsured, go on O'Bamacare or pay for BCBS out of pocket.

Unfortunately too many uninsured are choosing to use hospitals as unpaid clinics--especially on Friday and Saturday nights. And it's a shame that the Affordable Care Act comes with unaffordable deductibles and co-pays to where people remain uninsured. And Medicaid (and Medicare) payments to Alabama doctors and hospitals are so ridiculously low--based on their cost of doing business.

Even if someone has Medicaid, finding a quality physician willing to see you is very difficult. We're on Medicare with a great supplement, and my wife's doctor dropped all Medicare patients and is doing cash paying weight control.

You kept switching terminology between Medicaid and Medicare. Sure you know the differences but post your “angle” is difficult to follow. Medicare is practically universal after 65. Obamacare does keeps increasing in costs and in patient charges.

[GreggT]

Originally Posted by JoeJunior

Even if someone has Medicaid, finding a quality physician willing to see you is very difficult. We're on Medicare with a great supplement, and my wife's doctor dropped all Medicare patients and is doing cash paying weight control.

Not really true here in Alabama. We have not found a doctor or hospital that does not accept Medicaid. If one is looking for basic care, Medicaid is a Godsend in our state. Medicare is even more generous. Most doctors/hospitals. would go out of business without Medicare!
If one is looking for care that doesn't quite fit the Medicaid rules like "Maybe" weight control, not so much. In most cases you can throw mental health in the same bag as it has turned into a mostly cash basis.

[JoeJunior]

I know the difference between Medicare and Medicaid. Sure hospitals take both, but physicians don't like either and many doctors are switching to cash payments only. Or they're retiring.

My wife has had 9 major surgeries in the last 3 years, and we have Medicare with a Plan F supplement--the top of the line coverage. She's essentially been bedridden for the last 6 months. Her last primary care physician dropped all Medicare patients to go into weight management full time--cash basis. We had a hard time finding a new primary care physician that would even accept her as a patient.

You wouldn't believe what little money Medicare pays to physicians. It's a totally screwed up system. But if they were nephrologists treating people on dialysis, the doctors would be paid big, big money. And Huntsville physicians and hospitals don't get paid as much as the doctors in other cities with higher costs of doing business.

We have a daughter that's chronically unemployed, and she cannot get Medicaid because she's not pregnant. She's also ineligible for the Affordable Care Act (O'bamacare) because she has no income. I've been paying $516 a month for BCBS full healthcare for years. If I didn't have the means to pay for her BCBS healthcare, she'd be another of those uninsured people sitting in the emergency room on Friday nights to treat her asthma and/or chronic headaches. To go to a Doc in a Box, they want $140 cash up front before even seeing you as a patient.

I can see where Medicaid in Alabama has to be limited since 40% of the children in the state are on some form of state supported Medicaid.

[GreggT]

Originally Posted by JoeJunior

You wouldn't believe what little money Medicare pays to physicians. It's a totally screwed up system.

Probably the amount Medicare pays is probably closer to the correct amounts. To date we have not found a doctor that does not accept Medicare or Medicaid. The primary reason for not accepting new patients is their current patient load.
Now there are quite a few doctors that do not accept Advantage plans, ours does not. This is due to the difficulty in getting paid plus the ever changing regulations.

We have a daughter that's chronically unemployed, and she cannot get Medicaid because she's not pregnant. She's also ineligible for the Affordable Care Act (O'bamacare) because she has no income. I've been paying $516 a month for BCBS full healthcare for years. If I didn't have the means to pay for her BCBS healthcare, she'd be another of those uninsured people sitting in the emergency room on Friday nights to treat her asthma and/or chronic headaches. To go to a Doc in a Box, they want $140 cash up front before even seeing you as a patient.

Same situation here, our daughter has a mental illness which prevents her from being employed. We pay her BCBS premium otherwise she would have to join the uninsured crowds at the emergency room!

I can see where Medicaid in Alabama has to be limited since 40% of the children in the state are on some form of state supported Medicaid.

I disagree, this 40% you speak of are also citizens of Alabama and the less fortunate are due our concern as well as the more well off!

[dijkstra]

Originally Posted by GreggT

Probably the amount Medicare pays is probably closer to the correct amounts. To date we have not found a doctor that does not accept Medicare or Medicaid. The primary reason for not accepting new patients is their current patient load.
Now there are quite a few doctors that do not accept Advantage plans, ours does not. This is due to the difficulty in getting paid plus the ever changing regulations.

I do not doubt that there are a lot of them that do not accept Medicaid. I have heard a lot do not because of the low pay. I do know for a fact that a lot of them do not accept even the Blue Cross Blue Shield Alabama plans from the "Obamacare" healthcare.gov system. They do not accept healthcare.gov plans from the ACA because of all the hoops they have to jump through as well as the lower payouts on the services.

I would prefer we pick a path. Either the government expand Medicare to cover all US citizens and the insurance companies be relegated to supplemental plans or the government get completely out of health insurance and leave it alone so the free market can function properly. What we have now since the ACA is a complete mess of a hack job.

[Beliciano]

Originally Posted by GreggT

Just found out our poor and disadvantaged in Alabama are felt a double whammy with our state not expanding Medicaid. Not only are many people not eligible for Medicaid but additionally if they are not eligible for that Federal program, they are not eligible for assistance on the outrageously high insurance premiums offered by the Affordable Care Act. If their income is below 100% of the poverty level, they fail to qualify for assistance. One can have an out of wedlock baby and then they would qualify.
We have a mentally challenged daughter who we have been supporting and on our limited fixed income it has become increasingly difficult. We both are in our advanced ages and neither are in great health. Not sure what is going to happen to her once we pass on.
It is really a sad situation her in Alabama that our legislators would care so little about our disadvantaged!

Folks have known this issue for almost a decade here and many people made a stink about it over a decade here when it happened and continued to do so for years. Unfortunately the state legislators here do not care about those suffering because of this issue, because they honestly do not have much regard for the people they are paid to represent. As long as they and their families are taken care of they honestly do not care. There are also many residents here think the only people who want this expansion are lazy and spew all kinds of negative talk in regards the matter. Those people will keep voting the same old politicians in who are the problem with getting it passed!!