Blog friend Les has been cudgeling our brains on health care with the contention that hospitals don't deny poor people care. That's all great and fine if we want everyone to seek treatment in the emergency room.
But what if working folks deny themselves care because they don't bank on charity and don't want to go bankrupt? That drives up everyone's costs, say the South Dakota health care experts who support expanding Medicaid:
A doctor, directors of medical facilities and other health care workers told a state task force Tuesday they believe South Dakota should expand its Medicaid program to provide health insurance to thousands more low-income people.
They said low-income people without health insurance now delay getting medical care until they are seriously ill because they know they cannot pay the bill. Those people then wind up in emergency rooms and hospitals getting expensive care that could be avoided if they get earlier treatment, they said.
"They are the working poor. These are the people we are trying to help," said John Mengenhausen, CEO of Horizon Health Care, representing the community health centers that provide medical care to people with fees based on patients' income [Chet Brokaw, "SD Health Care Workers Urge Medicaid Expansion," AP via Mitchell Daily Republic, 2013.04.24].
Expanding Medicaid won't increase our costs: according to Brokaw's article, we South Dakotans are already footing the bill for $90 million in unpaid medical bills. That's the hidden tax Senator Stan Adelstein contends we all pay for the uninsured.
Some argue that expanding Medicaid won't expand coverage; it will only take some people off the rolls of private insurance and not result in net improvements in health care access. But the vast majority of folks whom the Medicaid expansion would serve get no insurance from their low-wage jobs, and past Medicaid expansions have not undermined private insurance.
If we take advantage of the Medicaid expansion offered by the Affordable Care Act, we can increase access to health care, take a bite out of that $90 million, and make more sick people well.