Commenters on the AJC Regional Economy blog had a range of reactions to pro/con columns on the economic benefits of expanding Medicaid in Georgia. Here is a sampling of comments.
Catlady: I live where North Carolina, Tennessee and Georgia meet. Seventy-five percent of the kids in school get free lunch. Most are served by Medicaid or Peachcare. Almost 20 percent are Latino, virtually all born in the United States. They have parents employed at the chicken plant. There is less than 1 percent African-American, although we have perhaps 20 kids in the school system that are biracial or bi-cultural. What might help is to charge everyone a nominal fee for use of the emergency room. For Medicaid/Medicare, perhaps $20. And if it is not paid, go after it as the hospital would go after me. However, for visits to the doctor's office, charge no co-pay. We need to clear the ER of sore throats and ear infections, which is what I have seen the elderly and poor come in with around here. Physicians in my area are heavily dependent on Medicare/Medicaid patients. About the only ones around who have traditional insurance are school system employees.
Joseph: Decades ago, California tried a $2 co-pay, and even that minimal amount was a flop. The people simply refused to pay. If the doctors wouldn't see them, they went to the emergency room. Medicaid expansion will increase usage. That is its goal, and since Medicaid only pays 69 percent of costs, that means higher insurance prices for us.
Bernie: Medicaid patients are more frequent users of emergency rooms when fewer Medicaid-participating physicians are available. The majority of Atlanta's physicians do not need or want Medicaid patients as part of their patient load. These physicians have the luxury of a large number of commercially insured patients. If you were to look 25 miles and farther outside of Atlanta, physicians think and act differently. Those particular physicians and their practices need and depend on the income of servicing Medicaid patients. Where medical services are available, ER use is not as high. The strange part is that Medicaid patients are far less likely to sue a physician when it comes to patient care. The interesting difference is the Medicaid patient knows the physician does not really care about his or her welfare. They do not typically sit and expect a return phone call from any physician after hours.
SAWB: Just recently, President Barack Obama delayed the implementation of key pieces of the health care plan because it is so complicated and simply not ready to implement. Each day, we hear about some issue or group that was overlooked and will be adversely impacted. So, if the architect of this monstrosity believes some parts need to be delayed, it is prudent for Georgia to do the same.
Mangler: More patients die who are on Medicaid than private insurance plans? Of course! They are poor people who have not had access to preventative health care and likely less access to healthier food options and likely have had manual-labor type employment when they get it. Here's another shocking statistic: More people die from head injuries than from foot injuries.
