Would you support phasing out Medicaid over 10 - 15 years and replacing it with the public option?

[Tony_FLADEM]

You would have Private Health Insurance, Medicare and the Public Option.


If private health insurance companies cannot discriminate, poor people are getting subsidies to buy health insurance, and there is a public option, maybe there is less of a need for Medicaid.

This would save money because instead of paying nothing for Medicaid some people would pay a premium, and would not be limited in terms of income and assets.

I'm not advocating this position, just want to know what people think.

[Oregone]

1. No, no, no and no.

Medicaid has a low overhead (lowers per capita health costs) and it is funded progressively, rather than regressively via user premiums (from the low-income families it covers). This is an insane notion.

ANYTIME you shift people from efficient, non-profit, government funded to private for profit, or even non-profit self-sustaining (public option), it will increase per capita expenditures and have a net regressive effect.

Fuck the "public option". Id rather expand Medicaid (and Medicare), and make sure it is funded progressively. The funding of the self-sustaining "public option" (minus subsidies) will be entirely regressive in comparison.