" Medicaid has been largely privatized. Most people with Medicaid in the U.S.—over 64 percent in 2007—get their Medicaid benefits through a private managed care plan that contracts with the state. In 21 states, between 71 and 100 percent of residents with Medicaid get their benefits through a private plan (see map below). Medicaid, therefore, can no longer be considered a truly government-administered public health insurance program. "
Medicaid Is Not an Alternative to a New Public Health Insurance Option
"The medicaid people are the ones that show up at the emergency rooms because they don't have to pay for it and they can... Those with medicaid don't have to line up at the doctors office, just show up at the emergency for colds, flue and other minor medical ailments. mo ..nic"
..........and we cannot sustain that situation - one more reason for 'public option' .. ..
"Correct me if I'm wrong, but medicare isn't paying it and medicaid isn't paying because these people have self employed jobs and assets and arent poor enough to qualify.
They have to pay the bill themselves and with the bankruptcy laws being as they are, many of these uninsured actually don't lose their home or car or personal assets .... ... so in fact, the rest of the people that have private health care and the government ... those of us who pay taxes foot the bill."
.. . Medicaid provider payment rates are often well below Medicare's so many providers do not participate in the program. On average, in 2008 Medicaid programs across the country paid 72 percent of the Medicare fee for all medical services. Medicaid provider reimbursement rates were as low as 37 percent of the Medicare rate in New Jersey. These low reimbursement rates lead to fewer physicians accepting patients with Medicaid:
one more reason we MUST TRY for public option ... ..
-------------------------------------------
.........the majority of the bankruptcies are from people WITH private insurance & middle class ......
Results: Using a conservative definition, 62.1% of all bankruptcies in 2007 were medical; 92% of these medical debtors had medical debts over $5000, or 10% of pretax family income. The rest met criteria for medical bankruptcy because they had lost significant income due to illness or mortgaged a home to pay medical bills.
Most medical debtors were well educated, owned homes, and had middle-class occupations. Three quarters had health insurance. Using identical definitions in 2001 and 2007, the share of bankruptcies attributed to medical problems rose by 49.6%. In logistic regression analysis controlling for demographic factors, the odds that a bankruptcy had a medical cause was 2.38-fold higher in 2007 than in 2001.
Market Data 
Markets 
AI
