Quote:
Originally Posted by Danzig
i doubt the cbo counts anything that goes towards the states portion. i just read the other day that medicaid is going to explode cost-wise to help pay for what is affectionately termed obama care. that by 2020 the states are going to be in a world of hurt because of their share, that grows every year.
medicare is part of ss. it's supposedly paid for by ss taxes with extra $ required for anything beyond part A, and extra premiums if you don't have that oh so difficult to achieve 40 credits. i can only imagine the sheer cost if people could just jump in earlier...as i said above, i know this state has something in place to cover those who can't otherwise find insurance, either due to prohibitive cost, pre-existing conditions, etc. i doubt arkansas is the only one to have this program. medicaid is for the indigent, medicare for the elderly...problem is, medicaid is so beyond screwed up already, i don't know how they'll handle the increase they're about to get. or how we'll pay for it.
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States are broke. Most of them have been living off federal stimulus money to help balance their budgets and avoid layoffs the past 2 years. Medicaid is a very expensive program, as those people are, as you say, indigent, and most can't work and often are younger, or have certain disabilities.
I think that allowing a younger, healthier population to buy into Medicare would be awesome - it would help save the system, too, with cash influx.