Inferior Care Offered by Government Health Care
Wednesday, October 10th, 2007 By Marc KilmerThere was a recent American Medical Association study that seems to find that Medicaid managed care patients receive lower quality of care than non-Medicaid managed care patients. Unfortunately, I have only been able to find the study’s abstract and have not been able to read the actual study (if anyone knows where I can read the full study, please let me know). But from what I can make out, this study bolsters the claim that patients receive a lower quality of care from government health programs than from private health programs.
This is especially notable in the ongoing debate about the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). Studies suggest that up to 60% of the kids who would be eligible for SCHIP under the expanded plan would be moving from private coverage to government coverage. If this AMA study is correct, it means these kids are moving to a program that would give them lower quality of care. If this debate really is about who cares more for the children as the supporters of SCHIP expansion claim, then why do they want to move kids to inferior care?
