The Tragicomedy of Medicaid
Millions have been disenrolled from Medicaid, nominally due to the “unwinding” of COVID eligibility rules … but also due to administrative glitches. Lots of other problems with Medicaid. It’s a crisis, worthy of the deep scrutiny and biting wit of John Oliver.
April 21, 2024
Medicaid: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)
(28 minute video)
April 18, 2024
John Oliver discusses why millions of people have been kicked off of Medicaid, why Medicaid access was difficult even before the current “unwinding”, and what would happen if fruits and vegetables could talk.
[Alert: Oliver uses profanity for emphasis]
Comment by: Jim Kahn
It’s so tragic it’s comic. Medicaid – health insurance for 90 million US poor – is a vivid example of the chaos and inefficiency that result when a program is designated and designed for individuals who lack political power and social standing. The beneficiaries are disrespected and poorly served. As HJM discussed, in most states private “managed care” insurers exploit the massive Medicaid cash cow to extract profits via restricted services and higher government spending. This essential health insurance lifeline is frayed.
What we need is a public insurance system that serves everyone, and thus is subject to natural quality control. Everybody needs it, so it works. Think social security, fire departments, and highways. They function well, fulfilling important societal functions.
In the health insurance arena, that’s single payer / Medicare for All. Successfully implemented around the world. Generous, equitable, and efficient. Advocated by John Oliver.
Oliver’s plea in this video for better management of Medicaid unwinding is appropriate, but IMO doomed to succumb to the dysfunctional dynamics of the Medicaid system. Hence my – and Oliver’s – plea for real system reform.
Universal public insurance is a heavy political lift, due to all the private entities – most of all insurers – who will lose tens of billions in profits. So we need to keep up the fight. John Oliver is our best cheerleader.
About the Commentator, Jim Kahn
Jim (James G.) Kahn, MD, MPH (editor) is an Emeritus Professor of Health Policy, Epidemiology, and Global Health at the University of California, San Francisco. His work focuses on the cost and effectiveness of prevention and treatment interventions in low and middle income countries, and on single payer economics in the U.S. He has studied, advocated, and educated on single payer since the 1994 campaign for Prop 186 in California, including two years as chair of Physicians for a National Health Program California.
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