You may have seen this headline on Huffingtonpost but apparently there is no health care problem in America.
Mississippi's GOP Governor Says No American Lacks Health Care
Republican Governor Phil Bryant knows something that nobody else does! When did we pass single payer?
"There is no one who doesn't have health care in America. No one."
Wow. But there's a catch:
Now, they may end up going to the emergency room. There are better ways to deal with people that need health care than this massive new program."
More below the orange squiggle of love...
There's the rub. If you are one of 48 million Americans who don't yet have insurance, there's always the emergency room, says Bryant.
As the article points out, he's referring to the law that requires hospitals receiving Medicare funding to treat anyone who enters an ER, regardless of ability to pay. But that "care" does have a price -- in unpaid medical bills that can drive people into bankruptcy.
Bryant's worst statement, that offering health care in the form of Medicaid "discourages people from getting better jobs," is the worst lie of them all.
Now for a personal story....
I currently don't have health insurance because I'm between jobs (writer in the age of non-writing) and got turned down by one insurer for having pre-existing conditions (too fat, too anxious, and too much psoriasis). I just learned today that my two kids are eligible and enrolled in Medicaid, thank God. My husband has insurance through his grad school, but can't add anyone to his insurance.
We don't have the worst health insurance story by any stretch, but it's probably a typical one. We're not broke enough to all qualify for Medicaid, but we don't have enough income to afford the premiums of any individual plan -- I've checked. COBRA is out of the question -- too expensive. I'll probably sign up for a local clinic plan but it is not insurance that I can take from state to state.
I'm hopeful I'll get a job and unlike what Bryant says, dealing with Medicaid has made me ever more eager to find another job - and quick! Even though my kids can continue to see their doctor on Medicaid, we need to find another dentist and few accept Medicaid. The Medicaid office initially sent me a denial letter, and when I called they told me that they had actually approved coverage for my kids. When I asked about Healthy Families, the state program, the said it is no longer.
Just a few years ago, I could have applied for an income-based plan through Kaiser, or applied for Healthy Families. Now those options are both gone.
So to paraphrase Whoopie Goldberg, I say to Governor Bryant: Until ACA fully kicks in, maybe we should bring all the sick people to your house!