Why Are We Expanding Medicaid…?
In a blog post this afternoon, the Washington Post’s Sarah Kliff has an interesting chart (reproduced below) about the health outcomes stemming from insurance coverage. She included the chart in an attempt to rebut Governor Romney’s recent comments that uninsured patients can get care at emergency rooms. But the REAL lesson from the chart below is the fact that Medicaid patients have virtually no improvement in survival times from patients who lack health insurance altogether. Don’t believe me? Take a look yourself…
That very, very narrow sliver between the green and red lines represents the health benefits of Medicaid. According to the latest CBO estimates, Obamacare will spend $642 billion to bring this meager “benefit” to 11 million individuals. Which brings me back to my original question: Why are we expanding this program again?