Medicaid and the middle class!

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 2012

Gene Robinson’s explanation: For our money, Gene Robinson did a good job in yesterday’s Post explaining some of Romney’s positions on health care.

We don’t think he did a good job explaining Romney’s position on Medicaid.

This passage starts with a pretty good joke. The Medicaid exposition seems jumbled:

ROBINSON (9/11/12): My advice is that before making a serious attempt to understand what Romney might actually do, make sure your health-insurance policy covers whiplash.

We know more about how Romney would handle Medicare. Beginning in 2023, the program would no longer be a promise to provide health care to seniors. It would be a promise to give seniors a voucher that is unlikely to cover the full cost of buying private health insurance.

We also know what Romney and running mate Paul Ryan plan to do about Medicaid, the health-care program for the poor. Ryan’s proposed budget, which Romney has endorsed, would give block grants to the states and let them run the program. This would mean inadequate funding, which would mean merciless cuts. Among those whose well-being is most threatened by the Romney-Ryan plan are seniors who have exhausted their savings and whose nursing-home care is paid not by Medicare but by Medicaid.

According to Robinson, Medicaid is “the health-care program for the poor.” That’s true, but Medicaid is also the health care program which provides nursing home care to many middle-class seniors. This is a very important point, given the very large cuts in Medicaid funding Romney has proposed.

Medicaid is the health care program which provides nursing home care to many middle-class seniors. Although those seniors are technically “poor,” the program lets their children and spouses continue their middle-class lives.

Would a person understand that from reading Robinson’s account? Our guess:

A person would understand that fact if he already knew it. For many, many other readers, this key point would not come through.