For all of those on Medicaid

I hope this is true of all healthcare professionals.

I honest to GOD do not know, nor care, what insurance my patients have when I am taking care of them. I really don't. (FYI)

I'm not quite sure where your going with this thread. I don't care about insurance either, all my patients get the best care I can give them. But, if on state ins. please don't demand I wait on you hand & foot at the expense of the rest of my patients and tell me you pay my paycheck. You don't, me and all the other working people you see are paying for you to be here. BTY, the patients will NEVER hear this thought for my mouth, but, I can't help but think it.

I work for a Managed medicaid insurance company. I know what ShayRN is saying, I think. There seems to be a stigma for these members. They probably think nurses in the hospital know they are Medicaid. I honestly can say, when I was working bedside nursing, I never looked to see what type of insurance they had. Who has time? But the members sometimes seem to feel like they are viewed differently. Is that what you are saying, ShayRN?

Agree with OP big time. Don't know who has it and don't care.

Only reason I know is from filling out paperwork to ship to ER or Dr's appts. Makes no difference to me, I will treat you with respect & dignity, providing you the same quality care as the rest of my patients.

Only time I care is when we're looking at discharge planning. And then it's just to better plan. I'd rather you have Medicaid than nothing if we're trying to get some sort of home health or outpatient care for you. And if it's a weekend, I don't care what your insurance is, they will not pre-authorize a $100/dose antibiotic on a weekend. And I'm not being judgemental when I say you probably can't afford it. I can't afford $300/day antibiotics. The doctor that wants to prescribe you the $300/day antibiotics can't afford them. Probably the only two people that can afford them is the CEO of the insurance company not approving it on a weekend and the CEO of the drug company that makes the $300/day antibiotic!

I'm not quite sure where your going with this thread. I don't care about insurance either, all my patients get the best care I can give them. But, if on state ins. please don't demand I wait on you hand & foot at the expense of the rest of my patients and tell me you pay my paycheck. You don't, me and all the other working people you see are paying for you to be here. BTY, the patients will NEVER hear this thought for my mouth, but, I can't help but think it.

Well, shouldn't that be true for all your patients? NO ONE should treat you that way! Why single out Medicaid families?

Well, shouldn't that be true for all your patients? NO ONE should treat you that way! Why single out Medicaid families?

I've only ever had people who have state insurance tell me "I'm paying your salary by being here! My medicaid pays for you."

I've never had someone say to me: "My Blue Cross/Kaiser/Cobra/etc pays your salary!"

The Medicaid families single themselves out, unfortunately. The bad apples spoil the bunch. Regarding medicaid though, it's been my experience that the bunch is by and large bad apples. The respectful and grateful are few and far between.

In LTC, the Medicaid patients are the ones that demand all my attention and complain about everything. Nothing is ever right at the facility I work at but they wont leave either. So I agree that they single themselves out.

In my facility we don't know abiut a patient's financial status. Sometimes I'll ask at D/C if they'll have problems with the treatment plan. BUT, I once put a woman on crutches, the doctor mentioning that she had requested them but didn't really need them. The patient requested a second set in case she wore them out. When I said that was an unesacary expense, she said "Medicaid will pay for it." I answered in shock "so that's where my tax dollars go!" Now that's or some variation is my standard answer to unreasonable requests with the entitlement mentality. I'm now disabled and have been on welfare belfore.

This is not to the OP, but to the people who don't seem to understand why people on Medicaid seem to be the ones that complain the most. I think I understand a little bit why people on Medicaid may be like this, and this is a generalization, so take it for what it's worth.

It's my understanding that people on Medicaid may be in that situation because due to their finances that may be the only insurance that is available to them, but I also know that in certain States people who have children with disabilities may have Medicaid for those children, regardless of the parent's incomes. Whether a patient is on Medicaid because of dire personal finances or because they are a child with a disability, neither of these conditions are what people would consider enviable. For the sake of argument, let's just deal with those individuals who have arrived at a point in their lives where they are on Medicaid because of their own poor choices in life, in that these choices have left them in dire financial straits.

I believe people generally do the best they can in life, period. One person's best attempt at making good choices may be quite different from another person's best attempt; the former may end up penniless and a drug addict, and the latter may end up a nurse, maybe even a happily employed nurse. I'm choosing a drug addict just to exaggerate a point, I'm not at all saying that those are representative of people on Medicaid.

Is the dead broke drug addict any less deserving of being treated with compassion than the (happily employed) nurse with a car to drive to work and a house to live in?

OK, what about those people who are not so far out of the mainstream (that anyone can easily observe), who are on Medicaid and do a lot of complaining? Yeah, it may be easy to put them down, but chances are they too are doing the best they can in life, and maybe they just are not at the best time in their life. So, how to feel about the complaining now?

In case anyone hasn't noticed, people who are in pain tend to complain, whether or not it is self inflicted pain. These people may not even realize that they are complaining, and may even deny that they are in pain, but it isn't easy at all in many ways to be poor, even in the USA, and even when it looks like there aren't visible signs of poverty. It is possible to appear to be financially OK even when a person is living out of a car, and some living out of their car may need to try even hard to appear middle class just so their soul doesn't give up entirely.

So assuming this is true, why would people on Medicaid complain MORE than people with other insurance? It's NOT because they feel so much more entitled, it is because they may feel that they haven't gotten a fair shake in life (which may or may not be true, and it doesn't matter which), or that maybe they've learned that "the squeaky wheel gets the grease", or maybe they've been put down a lot by people who don't like the fact that they are on Medicaid so the person on Medicaid feels shamed, and defensive, and feels the need to fight back, etc.

OK, obviously I've gone off on a rant, so since it seems acceptable here to say almost anything under the guise of a vent, that's what I'm doing. It really annoys me that it seems so many people have so little compassion or understanding about people who are either not well educated, or middle class financially, or able to help themselves in other ways...I guess that would put the very people who lack compassion into the un-educated and unable to help themselves classes, so I'll work on growing more compassion for all of you who fit into those categories. I'm not saying I'm a saint, but really, why is it so hard for some people to understand that people who feel disenfranchised may act out a bit?

The Medicaid families single themselves out, unfortunately. The bad apples spoil the bunch. Regarding medicaid though, it's been my experience that the bunch is by and large bad apples. The respectful and grateful are few and far between.

This has got to be one of the most stereotypical statements I have ever read. Granted, I do see that you tried to soften the blow.

My children have medicaid. I had medicaid when I was pregnant with my youngest (now 2), but no longer qualify and now have no insurance because I can not afford it. For 10 years I worked for an engineering firm and had BCBS as well as AFLAC (making $50k per year). Going to the doctor was no problem. I decided to relocate to be closer to my mother. Partly because one of my children (yes, I have 3), has severe respiratory problems and has been hospitalized a few times (he's only 4) - even been tested for cystic fibrosis (inconclusive results). I secured a position making $8k less per year, but still a doable salary. Unfortunately, I was let go in my probationary period (probably because i missed work due to my son's illness).

Three months after being laid off, I realized I was pregnant. Kind of hard to find a job period in this economy - even worse when you are pregnant. I waitressed at a small restaurant (something I had not done since I was 16) on the weekends before the baby was even 6 weeks old to try to make a buck. Luckily, I did eventually find a job with a decent hourly rate (still $8/hr less than what I made before). I do not get sick leave nor do I qualify for health insurance, but I do the best I can.

I have to admit, that it is a relief to know that I don't have co-payments to worry about or unexpected Rx costs but sometimes it is downright embarrassing. Comments like yours are an example of why. Even though I know I am not what people perceive as the typical medicaid recipient, I AM a medicaid recipient. People are going to look at that and create their own opinion. Should I care? Probably not but as a human being I do.

I start NS in the fall and I hope that I feel the same way as the OP. I hope that I give the highest standard of care - regardless of whether or not the patient is a "bad apple" (be it perceived or actual).