Morning Must-Read: Richard Mayhew: Harrassing the “Deserving” Poor

…a politically powerless and disenfranchised primary user base… to… the working poor [who] will never have as much power as the non-working rich, but they have some…. Post 1: ‘A friend from Minnesota asks if I have heard of the ‘old’ Medicaid rules on child support assignment being applied to  ‘new’ Medicaid ACA-expanded  beneficiaries….. Does this mean Medicaid’s more draconian aspects will finally see the light of day in public debate? Will the inclusion of working poor people create a constituency for a Medicaid program… [not] apparently premised on the idea that Medicaid beneficiaries are getting something for nothing and payback is our mission?’ Post 2: ‘As I have discussed elsewhere, we are conflicted about Medicaid so it is no surprise that the ACA is conflicted… does nothing to alter state discretion to seek state recoupment of Medicaid costs from Medicaid beneficiaries who received basic medical services… after the age of 55….’ These types of rules have been put in place as part of the favorite American game of determing who is and is not part of the deserving poor.  Those rules applied to Medicaid when it was truly the poor person’s program and not a broad based payer of last resort.  To some, anyone who qualifies for Medicaid, even with the income eligiblity expansion is a ‘loser’ who deserves random harrassment, but beyond those assholes and sociopaths, it is harder for the American voting  public (which is quite different and generally more privileged than the general public on a variety of measures) to see the value of harrassing people who they either know or could have seen themselves to be.