Straight Story: Waiting for a cure
A new study says uninsured Americans will spend upwards of $30 billion on health care this year. Economics editor Chris Farrell sets the story straight on the prospects for real reform.
Economics editor Chris Farrell (American Public Media)
More on Straight Story, Health
Comments
Comment | Refresh
From MA, 09/22/2008
How does Farrell figure that Medicare is paying for the medically uninsured. Medicare IS insurance. It's true Medicare is a major source of health care spending, waste, and contributes to double digit health care inflation but that's because old people consume a disproportionate amount of medical services.
Farrell's claim that Medicaid pays for the uninsured is also misleading. Medicaid is insurance for the poor and the pseudo-poor. The pseudo poor are all those disabled middle class geezers living in nursing homes at $60K per year after tranferring their houses and other wealth to their adult kids.
Calling poor mothers and kids uninsured if they get Medicaid is plain false. Medicaid IS their health insurance.
Taxpayers do pay for Chris Farrell's beloved illegal immigrants when they show up at the emergency room with no insurance. But according to Chris they're doing us a favor by being here.
Post a Comment: Please be civil, brief and relevant.
Email addresses are never displayed, but they are required to confirm your comments. All comments are moderated. Marketplace reserves the right to edit any comments on this site and to read them on the air if they are extra-interesting. Please read the Comment Guidelines before posting.
You must be 13 or over to submit information to American Public Media. The information entered into this form will not be used to send unsolicited email and will not be sold to a third party. For more information see Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy.