Afternoon Must-Read: Aaron Carroll and Austin Frakt: Zombie Medicaid Arguments

Aaron Carroll and Austin Frakt: Zombie Medicaid arguments: “They just won’t die….

We want to focus on the first statement, the one that declares that Medicaid doesn’t improve patients’ health. That’s not true…. There are lots of legitimate claims to make against Medicaid. It under-reimburses physicians, for instance, causing access problems in some areas and for some beneficiaries…. But the natural response to saying docs don’t get paid enough would be to increase Medicaid funding to improve that. Gutting the program will do the opposite…. We look forward to a continuing and lively debate on how to reform the health care system. But declaring that health insurance in the form of Medicaid hurts people or “doesn’t work” ignores the real good that it does…. Let’s listen to each other’s arguments and respond to them, instead of repeating talking points past each other.