Avik Roy: ObamaCare is Waging the Real War on Women
Here is a sample:
In 2008, women accounted for three-fifths of all Americans enrolled in Medicaid, our government-run health insurance program for the poor. Medicaid is under enormous strain because its costs grow faster than state tax revenues do. As a result, state governments are cutting services to women on Medicaid, which already provides the worst health outcomes in the country.
Instead of fixing this problem by improving the existing Medicaid program, ObamaCare severely worsens Medicaid’s structure, by shoving an additional 11 to 17 million people — disproportionately men — into Medicaid. This means that state governments will have to divert even more resources away from the women who are already in the program.
More on the harm that ObamaCare does to women in Forbes.
Why exactly was it bad for Romney to hire women for senior positions when he was the governor of Massachusetts? We are in the 21st century ladies and gentlemen, discrimination against women in the workforce is getting old, and overstated.
Roy makes a good point. The people most hurt by expanding Medicaid are those currently on Medicaid. After expansion, Medicaid rolls will be flooded with new enrollees — all competing to see the same doctors. Many doctors will stop accepting Medicaid enrollees because of the low provider payments Medicaid pays.
Good intentions do not always result in good outcomes. This is yet another example found in the 2,000-page Obamacare bill.
Avik Roy is correct but incomplete.
Medicaid will always come up short when it is funded (in part) by states that have to balance their budgets. When recessions hit, tax revenues fall right at the time when more individuals need help.
The solution is to federalize medicaid. Let federal taxes go up a few percent and see state taxes go down.
Like it or not, America has a huge number of citizens who are poor and will in almost all cases stay that way. We must have a public health program. And it must be federally funded.
Interesting article…
I dunno Dayana, makes about as much sense as Ledbetter standing up there with Obama, considering the state of employment for women.
I didn’t know this actually. Very interesting.
What is the deal with Avik Roy’s stock photo?
“disproportionately men”? is that because a higher number of men are uninsured?
btweric your comment made me lol
And yet we demand more being covered by Medicaid, even when it’s costs are rising dramatically on their own?
Most of the cost increase in Medicaid comes from the elderly and disabled beneficiaries.
One more poor senior into a nursing home means an extra $50,000 a year in Medicaid spending, for 3-5 years on average after that. One new disabled person with a spinal fracture can mean $60,000 in rehabilitation and similar spending for several years also.
There is a tendency to blame unmarried mothers and ‘shiftless’ unemployed men for Medicaid costs.
Ain’t right to do so.
Medicaid is paid for totally by income taxes, both federal and state. As Mr Romney reminded us, income taxes come only from the middle and upper classes.
One could say, and I will say it, that the wealthier persons in America derive a lot of benefit from the poorly paid waiters, cabdrivers, and janitors of America. If we are now going to expand Medicaid so that these $15,000-$20,000 workers get taxpayer health coverage, it is not unjust.