Medicaid. Is it being abused?

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Medicaid was a great idea when first introduced to assure that even the very poor could get quality health care. I just wonder when I see someone drive up in a newer car come up to the triage desk in designer clothes and lots of gold jewelry and they are on medicaid. I know of many who are the working middle class who are struggling to pay their own insurance premiums. Why do so many folks get a free ride? Or am I missing something here?

It must be nice to live in a perfect world. If you can tell the world how to keep teenage girl from getting pregnant I would certainly love to hear it. I have always cared for my children , provided the best I could and always have carried health insurance. However, when my 16 year old became pregnant our health insurance would pay for her to have the baby but would not cover the baby. Legally I am responsible for the mother but not the baby therefore the baby had to be put on medicaid and so did my daughter...not anything we wanted but the only answer. The relly sad part to the story is that I pay $320 a month for health insurance and she gets better coverage with medicaid than I did when she was a baby with insurance.

By the way not every out of wedlock baby ends up on medicaid. In fact I

know more married people with alot of kids on welfare than I know unmarried with just one.

Sounds to me like you were a victim of bad luck, pure and simple. I bet your daughter wound up responsible like her mom in the end and provided insurance for her baby when she was old enough to work. Makes me want to handcuff my teen daughter to me!

Specializes in Critical Care/Teaching.
How about the young teenage girls who end up pregnant. Its almost an automatic qualification for full medicaid insurance, housing and food stamps. This can go on for generations.

Perhaps the government should tax those who have children out of wedlock as a burden to society. This may encourage teens to practice birth control. Those who are able to care for their children could receive a tax break if they show they have proper insurance, a home, and a full time job.

Is the system geared for the achievers or the irresponsible?

You are so right, i went to nursing school right after high school, i was not extremely smart or talented, so i did not get any scholarships, just a left handed on for $500 for one semester. I worked all though nursing school, now i am in the masters program, still paying out of pocket and i see my fellow colleeges getting a full ride just because they have kids? Where is the justice?

Specializes in Case Management, Home Health, UM.
you either keep better control,, and/or provide birth control......and a fair number are NOT accidents, very much planned, with admittedly cockeyed teenage reasoning.....

Just ask my son's 19-year-old SIL, who is pregnant for the second time in less than a year (she miscarried the first). As soon as she found out she had been approved for full Medicaid benefits, she conveniently quit her job at Wal-Mart. On the other hand, my 59-1/2 year-old sister, who has multiple medical problems, including cancer, hypertension and now bilateral cataracts can't get health insurance coverage of ANY kind.

SIL knows EXACTLY what she is doing! :angryfire

Specializes in cardiac, LTC, postpartum.

I'm in school too, and I see this all the time. Sad isn't it? I even had a fellow classmate tell me, just have a baby and your school will be paid in full! I work on a maternity unit and I can honestly say that most medicaid patients come to our units with the nice Coach purses and high end cell phones! It makes me sick to think so many people are abusing the system. It's not right, and what's worse is the people who are quick to tell you to mind your own business. If they were wise, they would realize that it is my business when my hard earned tax dollars are paying for it. :angryfire

I'm in school too, and I see this all the time. Sad isn't it? I even had a fellow classmate tell me, just have a baby and your school will be paid in full! I work on a maternity unit and I can honestly say that most medicaid patients come to our units with the nice Coach purses and high end cell phones! It makes me sick to think so many people are abusing the system. It's not right, and what's worse is the people who are quick to tell you to mind your own business. If they were wise, they would realize that it is my business when my hard earned tax dollars are paying for it. :angryfire

I used to live in a city of 300,000 where very few dentists took Medicaid. The newspaper decided to investigate as to why, and believe me, the dentists stood in line and told their stories!

The gist of it is this: They do not show up for their appointments, nor do they call to cancel. When they do come in, they are often so abusive to staff and their kids are so out of control, they have had to call the police to take care of the problem. Oh, and they don't have the means to get their kids to the dentist, but they always have the money and transportation to go to an amusement park that is 3 hours away and costs $30 a person to get into, not to mention their hair weaves, tattoos, etc.

They all acknowledged that people like this make things so much tougher for the honest people who fell on hard times, or people like my grandmother who was on Medicaid for the last few years of her life. Now, if Grandma had needed dental work and couldn't find a provider in her small town, my dad would have paid for it, but I told this story to my dentist, who actually does a lot of pro bono work, and she agreed completely.

Specializes in ER.
As a mentioned in a subsequent post my parents pay my cable/internet and they are helping with my car note. I use internet for school (research and such for papers) and my basic cable is a luxury I can't afford but my kind parents are providing me. It is terribly difficult going from being able to live a comfortable life to having to decide between laundry detergent and dish washing liquid. My parents understand this, and while I don't expect them to take care of me, they still think I should not have to sit in a cold bare room with a bare lightbulb and a can of pork and beans because my husband fell upon unfortunate circumstances. Furthermore, I am going to school for my LPN and then RN, so it's not like I am making a life of my current situation.

:uhoh3: God bless you all, and I hope you never have to deal with a financial hardship. :)

jeez, you are busting your rear end to make it - so what if you like to enjoy cable?, and I dont think I would have made it through college without the internet (Had alot of Web based classes). You deserve these things, you are working hard. Dont let the burn outs get to you.

Specializes in Pediatrics.
jeez, you are busting your rear end to make it - so what if you like to enjoy cable?, and I dont think I would have made it through college without the internet (Had alot of Web based classes). You deserve these things, you are working hard. Dont let the burn outs get to you.

Thank you for your kind words. I was on Medicaid and it got me through nursing school. LOL. Now I'm a Medicaid Certified nurse and Medicaid pays me for the care I give so it's full circle. :) This is an older thread and I had to leave it alone because it got to be too much for me, but I was off shortly after posting because my husband got a great job with excellent benefits and decent pay. Now we give back. I make decent money and we do foster care. We pay it forward. My foster children do receive Medicaid as part of their being wards of the state. We have no control over that. We live comfortable lives and drive decent cars. We dress our children well, all of them, and I'm sure when people see me furnish my f-children's Medicaid cards at their appointments they roll their eyes and ASSUME we are abusing the system :jester:. Whatever. There are so many much more important things to care about rather than what people think they know.

... therefore the baby had to be put on medicaid and so did my daughter...not anything we wanted but the only answer...

"Had to be put on Medicaid"

No...That was your choice...

I was working prn 2 years ago...My 2 and 4 year olds were 90/month each...Cigna HMO, great coverage...Opened the phone book, and shopped around...

It's my responsibility, not the state's

Specializes in Pediatrics.
"Had to be put on Medicaid"

No...That was your choice...

I was working prn 2 years ago...My 2 and 4 year olds were 90/month each...Cigna HMO, great coverage...Opened the phone book, and shopped around...

It's my responsibility, not the state's

How judgmental is that statement? If she says she had no other options, who are we to debate her statement? In essence, calling her a liar?

What is an option for one person may not be an option for the next. It is a blessing that you were able to provide medical care for your children because you could afford it. Perhaps you made sacrifices to do it, and that is wonderful too, but chances are what you sacrificed were luxuries or did without the extras. Many of us find ourselves in that same predicament right now. I'm fairly certain you didn't have to decide between providing food for your children or paying for COBRA insurance. Perhaps if you had to make that decision your choices, options rather, would be different too.

This person may not have been able to afford private health care without sacrificing necessities such as food, clothing, shelter, or transportation to/from work. This country is in a health care crisis because hard working people who work full time jobs can not afford good health care coverage. Heck, some people working in the health care industry can't afford their employer provided health care insurance because premiums are outrageous. This is not a reflection on the persons themselves, this is a reflection on our economy, government, and need for health care reform.

I do not mean to offend. I just hope that we can remain mindful that no one's circumstances are cookie-cutter. We all have to make the best decisions for ourselves as situations present themselves and believe what we are choosing is best.

Specializes in CNA.

In my opinion, yes, medicaid is being abused. As well as other govt. programs such as housing, food, childcare, etc. I think there are a lot of people who actually do need some govt. assistance. There should be a time limit. 3-5 years is plenty enough time to go to school, find a job, and be financially able to take care of your own responsibilities. I have been working since I was 13 and have 4 children. I recently stopped working while my husband takes care of the family to stay at home with my children because the price of daycare was more than I was making. We pay for our own food and healthcare. I went to the public aid office and was denied. "YOU ARE NOT POVERTY" they told me. While waiting in line before being seen and while walking out the door I see these young and older mothers with all the expensive clothes but they are poverty. They are taking the assistance from the people who really need it. We struggle to pay our bills and pay for school while our ****taxes are being used to take care of people who are not even trying to improve their situations. They don't care they just keep on having more kids more assistance. Better healthcare, houses, food, clothes for nothing absolutely nothing. Excluding the few who are trying to make a better life for their families.

Anyways, there should be a **** limit. 3-5 years of free food, low childcare, healthcare,cheap or not paying rent, etc. is plenty time to get your life together. It should not be life long unless you are elderly or disabled.

Specializes in CNA.

Not to mention the free education.

I'm just tired of paying for others' poor choices...If a family member makes a poor choice, the family should come together and take responsibility, not thrust it upon the taxpayers...

My sister had a kid at 16, and my parents stepped up to the plate...Not once was anyone on the dole...My niece is now 20, cuts hair, and lives on her own...All things she did on her own (borrowed tuition, lives w/ a roommate, rides her bicycle to work). This self sufficiency is not a "blessing" but plain hard work and self reliance, which she learned from my parents, and my sister...

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