Saturday, February 27, 2016

Medicaid's Trojan Horse for the Working Class




“Free” doesn’t exactly mean free as billed by progressives.  Someone has to pay for all this “free stuff.”  We conservatives instinctively know this because we work for a living and are cursed with common sense.  Progressives usually can’t figure this out until it’s too late.  Some never do. 

The Affordable Health Care Act has rendered health insurance too expensive for the working class.  Most will be forced onto Medicaid or pay a fine.  Obamacare is the ultimate Trojan horse; instead of being filled with soldiers, this innocent looking gift is filled with government bureaucrats just waiting to plunder a citizen’s estate.


But with the expansion under ObamaCare, more and more people will qualify for Medicaid without realizing that the coverage is really not free, but instead a hidden secured loan whose terms aren't explicit. As Carol Ostrom, the Seattle Times health reporter, explained:

The way Prins saw it, that meant health insurance via Medicaid is hardly “free” for Washington residents 55 or older. It’s a loan, one whose payback requirements aren't well advertised. And it penalizes people who, despite having a low income, have managed to keep a home or some savings they hope to pass to heirs, Prins said.

Sofia and Gary lived together, she as an artist and he as a tango instructor, and when they saw that they would see their assets evaporate under estate recovery rules if they signed up for Medicaid, they decided to get married. That way, their combined incomes qualified them for ObamaCare coverage on the state exchange, helped along with some federal subsidies. Said Sofia:

We’re happy to be getting married. Unfortunately not everyone has such an elegant solution to the problem.

No, they don’t. Barry Blake lived with his mother who owned her own home and was covered under Medicaid. When she died, the state of Kentucky “took the house ... to be sold and pay those expenses” according to a suit Blake filed to recover it in 2009. The state also took the washer and dryer, their lawn mower, gardening tools, kitchen appliances and other personal items. Blake hadn't read the fine print. The lawsuit was dismissed.

 
There is nothing like the siren song of “free.”

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