Medicaid is actually pretty popular among recipients

[eridani]

http://content.healthaffairs.org/content/early/2014/10/02/hlthaff.2014.0747

Quality and affordability of care were generally rated as better with Medicaid coverage, while private coverage was seen as offering better access to and more respect from providers. These views represent a nuanced but reasonable comparison of Medicaid versus private health insurance and are consistent with some of the empirical evidence in this area. Recent studies indicate that Medicaid provides low-income adults with better financial protection than does private coverage, while lower reimbursement rates in Medicaid have been linked to lower physician participation rates in that program compared to private coverage. Favorable views toward Medicaid were most common among racial and ethnic minorities, people with lower education and income, and those in worse health.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/10/upshot/medicaid-often-criticized-is-quite-popular-with-its-customers.html

Medicaid, the federal-state program for poor and disabled Americans, is a frequent political target, often described as substandard because of its restricted list of doctors and the red tape — sometimes even worse than no insurance at all.

But repeated surveys show that the program is quite popular among the people who use it.

When asked to consider it alongside other big, popular government programs, Medicaid compares favorably, said Robert Blendon, a public health professor at Harvard who studies public opinion on health care issues and was a co-author on the recent study. “It’s only when you compare it to Medicare, which is so much more popular than 96 percent of what the federal government does, that it looks unimpressive,” Mr. Blendon said.

Comment by Don McCanne od PNHP: Low-income patients strongly support the Medicaid program. It provides better financial protection than does private insurance, and they perceive the care to be of high quality. Their primary concern is that “private coverage was seen as offering better access to and more respect from providers” than does Medicaid.

When asked whether it was better to have Medicaid or to be uninsured, there was strong agreement that Medicaid patients have higher quality of care, have greater access to doctors, are treated with better respect, and, especially, are better able to afford the health care that they need, than are the uninsured.

In fact, according to Harvard’s Robert Blendon, Medicaid compares quite favorably to other popular government programs, though the support is “unimpressive” when compared to the support for Medicare.

Unfortunately, the politicians in many states do not seem to care. Even though the federal government would provide most of the funds, they would rather leave these people uninsured. Obviously, they could care less about the opinions of this low-income population that lacks political clout.

Why would Medicare be more popular than Medicaid? Medicare that is supplemented with Medigap, retiree plans, or Part C plans removes financial barriers to care, thus providing a similar level of financial protection as Medicaid - with the exception that Medicaid covers long term care as well. Medicaid does have the stigma of a welfare program whereas Medicare is considered to be an earned right available to all qualified by age or disability. The greatest reason that Medicare is preferred is that the patients have free choice of their physicians, including specialists.

Under what system would a low-income patient fare best? One in which the welfare stigma is removed, and everyone is treated equal. One in which financial barriers such as large deductibles and coinsurance are removed. One in which patients have free choice of their health care professionals and hospitals. One in which a high standard of quality is the norm for all. In other words, low-income patients would fare best is a system that would work well for all of us - a single-payer, improved Medicare for all.

[PoliticAverse]

1. BTW: The increased medicaid payments to doctors provided by the ACA just expired...

See: http://www.democraticunderground.com/114214071

More Doctors accept Medicare than Medicaid because it pays them better.

[UTUSN]

2. It "OUGHT" to be popular on Rethug governors n/t

[jwirr]

3. One of the things that Medicare does not pay for is nursing home care. First you use your own

resources and then Medicaid kicks in. IF everyone could get Medicare (as a single payer plan) I would be in favor of it before Medicaid. But until this is a universal program that covers everyone we need both.

I know I am not going to make social workers etc happy by saying this but there are two systems that if eliminated would save the system a lot of money. First Medicare does not involve state agencies - it is a federal program while Medicaid has 3 levels - county state and federal. That would save the states a lot.

Then if we started combining various medical programs under Medicare there would only be one agency to deal with. In our state we have county, state and reservation medical programs as well as the VA and state worker insurance programs. I am not suggesting that we close down programs like the VA and reservation systems but that they be covered in the same programs as all the rest.

And I will be the first to admit that what I have just suggested means layoffs. Not good for the jobs situation.

[dsc]

4. My sister gets to compare both programs

She is currently on Medicaid but just recently got her disability which put her on Medicare. She prefers the Medicaid as it covers everything with no copays or deductable.

[Downwinder]

5. Medicare requires additional insurance to reach

the level of Medicaid. A Medigap policy to cover the 20% co-pay, a part D policy to cover the three prescriptions a month provided by medicaid .That still does not cover vision, dental, or hearing.