Helping the Middle Class at the Expense of the Poor
Tuesday, July 22nd, 2008 By Marc KilmerThe Dayton Daily News reports that there are some folks in Ohio who are eligible for Medicaid but are waiting to get on the rolls:
A backlog has placed 16,000 Ohio residents in an administrative limbo while they fight to receive Medicaid benefits from the state.
Services for Ohio’s poor, disabled and blind are in short supply and the lines are long. Administrative processes take months — sometimes years — to navigate, leaving in-need residents frustrated or suffering.
Quite a few states have waiting lists for people with disabilities. I think a lot of us would probably agree that providing care for people with disabilities who live in poverty is a legitimate function of the Medicaid program. The fact that these folks can’t receive service in Ohio and other states indicates (to me, at least) that Medicaid should stop trying to provide care for the middle class and instead focus on the truly needy.
Of course, in Ohio the Democratic governor and the Republican General Assembly approved a plan to expand the program to middle class kids. Perhaps they should take care of the folks on the waiting list before they try and dilute the program’s resources any further.
Crossposted at State House Call.
Tags: General Assembly, Health care, Strickland
