For all of those on Medicaid

Published

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)

Specializes in IMCU.
Did you fail reading? Were did I say "All Medicaid recipients everywhere are the same?"

Who are "these people" you speak of? I don't think I've used the term "these people" in any of my posts.

I cannot imagine why you are being so aggressive and rude. I am only pointing out your own words. Which were --

"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."

You are ignoring individual identity and that is stereotyping.

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Specializes in Geriatrics.
I cannot imagine why you are being so aggressive and rude. I am only pointing out your own words. Which were --

"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."

You are ignoring individual identity and that is stereotyping.

The saying "Bad apples spoil the bunch" has a very definate begining & meaning. When farmers were storing apples for the winter they often found that if you have even 1 (ONE) apple with a bruise (BAD) it will rot quickly and will cause rotting in the rest of the bushel. This does NOT mean that all the apples were bad to begin with.

What was being explained was simply this... The system has encouraged the attitude of entitlement, the result is that we tend to see more of the people who abuse the system, NOT because all on Medicaid abuse the system, but, because those that DO abuse the system are the ones that show up in our facilities on a regular basis demanding all they can. Those that DO NOT abuse the system will go to the Dr's office for a pregnancy test, make appts with Dr's and go to them, do not call 911 to be brought to the ER for non-emergancy reasons. The ones who do not abuse the system are pretty much unheard from, unless they truely need help. Even then, the non-abusers will be thankful for our help & care, will not bring thier kids & expect us to feed & babysit when being seen by the DR's & Nurses.

So, no we are not stereotyping, we are not ignoring individual idenities, we are talking about the ones we see too frequently arriving with bad attitudes, demanding we ignore the rest of the patients to care only for them & thier children. We are talking about the ones who demand that we wait on them hand & foot (like slaves) because they have Medicaid and if we don't then we are discriminating against them. If you can't understand this reasoning then I think you are just so bent on believing that we are all predjudice against ALL PEOPLE on Medicaid that there is no reasoning with you.

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Specializes in Reproductive & Public Health.

I know that Medicaid is different in every state, but my personal experience as a mother with kids on Medicaid has been that Medicaid DOES NOT in any way foster a sense of entitlement. It is impossible to find providers who accept Medicaid in my state. My daughter was denied treatment because our Medicaid coverage lapsed (through no fault of our own, trust me) when we moved from Florida to Connecticut. The brief lapse in coverage due to paperwork bullsh*t caused us to rack up $4,000 in medical debt over the course of a few weeks. Because we owed so much, the hospital would not schedule my daughter's monthly IVIG until the Medicaid was straightened out. It ended up okay- we got it straightened out and we were only 2 weeks late on her treatment, but it could have been much worse.

It sucks to be poor. It sucks to need state aid and to know that you and your kids are receiving substandard medical care. I have been reduced to tears on more than one ocassion because of this. We are NOT mooching off the system; we are NOT lazy. And even if I was, my kids deserve quality medical care. Decent medical care is a human right, and I will not apologize for utilizing state aid in order to make sure my kids have access to care. And yes, I have had to demand tests and treatments for my special needs daughter. My JOB as her mother is to make sure she is taken care of, and unfortunately it has been my experience that you need to be proactive and stand your ground to make sure your medically fragile kid gets what they need.

I don't care how many "bad apples" there are. My family deserves to be treated the same as any other. I will absolutely stand up an demand necessary treatment for my kids if I feel I need to. If I hadn't, my daughter would not be receiving the care she so absolutely needs.

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Specializes in Geriatrics.

It sucks to be poor. It sucks to need state aid and to know that you and your kids are receiving substandard medical care. I have been reduced to tears on more than one ocassion because of this. We are NOT mooching off the system; we are NOT lazy. And even if I was, my kids deserve quality medical care. Decent medical care is a human right, and I will not apologize for utilizing state aid in order to make sure my kids have access to care. And yes, I have had to demand tests and treatments for my special needs daughter. My JOB as her mother is to make sure she is taken care of, and unfortunately it has been my experience that you need to be proactive and stand your ground to make sure your medically fragile kid gets what they need.

I don't care how many "bad apples" there are. My family deserves to be treated the same as any other. I will absolutely stand up an demand necessary treatment for my kids if I feel I need to. If I hadn't, my daughter would not be receiving the care she so absolutely needs.

We are not talking about the people like you (glad it worked out for your daughter). We are talking about the ones abusing the system. I would stand up for my children & demand treatment too! I've been on Medicaid, my oldest child was born with a defect that required surgery when she was 3 months old. We were on Medicaid at the time, Dr screwed up the surgery, didn't want to treat the result of his screwup. Fought like a tiger, she had repair surgery at 9months (by another Dr). I understand what you mean. But, I'm willing to bet you don't treat those caring for your child like they owe you for your being there.. just my :twocents:

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Specializes in IMCU.

In the name of all that is holy...I am not even approaching accusing someone of saying all people on medicare are a problem. I don't understand why you both are being so obtuse. It is clear to anyone reading your posts that a subgroup, in this case "Medicaid families" are all being tarred with the same brush.

At best, to say that this poster is only talking about one person is disingenuous. This silliness of positing that I cannot read or that I don't understand the most simple of expressions ridiculous and patronizing. If the poster did not mean more than one person she can say that she made a mistake in what she wrote below. It is evident that she did mean a group of people on medicaid. I repeat the quote:

"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."

Clearly this is going to go absolutely nowhere. I am off.

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I know that Medicaid is different in every state, but my personal experience as a mother with kids on Medicaid has been that Medicaid DOES NOT in any way foster a sense of entitlement. It is impossible to find providers who accept Medicaid in my state. My daughter was denied treatment because our Medicaid coverage lapsed (through no fault of our own, trust me) when we moved from Florida to Connecticut. The brief lapse in coverage due to paperwork bullsh*t caused us to rack up $4,000 in medical debt over the course of a few weeks. Because we owed so much, the hospital would not schedule my daughter's monthly IVIG until the Medicaid was straightened out. It ended up okay- we got it straightened out and we were only 2 weeks late on her treatment, but it could have been much worse.

It sucks to be poor. It sucks to need state aid and to know that you and your kids are receiving substandard medical care. I have been reduced to tears on more than one ocassion because of this. We are NOT mooching off the system; we are NOT lazy. And even if I was, my kids deserve quality medical care. Decent medical care is a human right, and I will not apologize for utilizing state aid in order to make sure my kids have access to care. And yes, I have had to demand tests and treatments for my special needs daughter. My JOB as her mother is to make sure she is taken care of, and unfortunately it has been my experience that you need to be proactive and stand your ground to make sure your medically fragile kid gets what they need.

I don't care how many "bad apples" there are. My family deserves to be treated the same as any other. I will absolutely stand up an demand necessary treatment for my kids if I feel I need to. If I hadn't, my daughter would not be receiving the care she so absolutely needs.

I totally don't have a problem at all with kids being on Medicaid as I believe all children should get the care they need. My problem is with the lazy adults who are perfectly capable of working but instead lay around on their behinds waiting for the next welfare handout and running to the ER every time they have a sniffle.

Incidentally, I also believe that EVERYONE should get the care they need but until that happens, a stop should be put to all this abuse of the system. Why should a sorry few get to rack of thousands upon thousands of dollars worth of care that they really don't need (i.e. pregnancy tests in the ER, etc) when there are millions of other people who can't afford the simplest doctor visit.

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In the name of all that is holy...I am not even approaching accusing someone of saying all people on medicare are a problem. I don't understand why you both are being so obtuse. It is clear to anyone reading your posts that a subgroup, in this case "Medicaid families" are all being tarred with the same brush.

You're the one who is being obtuse. It is clear to anyone reading this thread that I am speaking about a SPECIFIC SUBGROUP of Medicaid families. Not all medicaid families.

I'm not talking about families on medicaid in general . I'm talking about families on Medicaid who behave badly. That's what's been discussed from the OUTSET. The people on Medicaid who single themselves out by being rude and through the fact that they're on Medicaid in your face.

Seriously? Is it that hard to understand? It's be stated that simply and obviously many times over in this thread, but I guess some people have a hard time comprehending. The more you respond, it's apparent you didn't make it past page 1 of this thread.

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Specializes in WOC, Hospice, Home Health.

I don't think its so much about being stereotypical of Medicaid patients as it is pure frustration.

For example, I cannot stand noncompliant patients. If you do not take your meds/ see your doctor/ take ownership of YOUR body despite multiple attempts at addressing your "knowledge deficit"...I throw up my hands. I cannot help you if YOU do not help you. If you are continually noncompliant you are wasting time and money. If you are on Medicaid and either noncompliant or demonstrating an inappropriate use of medical resources (aka going to the ER for a pregnancy test) then you are not only wasting time and money but you are wasting taxpayer money as well. And seeing it day in and day out is maddening. The reason we don't mention all the respectful polite folks on Medicaid is because they are not the ones leaving sour tastes in our mouths. It doesn't mean we don't care or that we automatically judge. But if I've seen 1000 bunnies in my lifetime you better believe that I know what a bunny looks and acts like if it walks through the door.

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Specializes in M/S, MICU, CVICU, SICU, ER, Trauma, NICU.
OK, to those who won't ask "where the heck am I coming from", well just from a lot of experience dealing with people. I've actually gotten more optimisitic about people the longer I deal with people, especially the ones with problems. And yes, I've been in jobs with lots of stress, very rude people, and various life and death situations on the job, so these kinds of situations are not that unique to nursing. And no, I've never done drugs. I'm not unique, but maybe you just don't see that much of this kind of attitude on this forum, which seems to have a lot of people venting a lot. I also see a good amount of positive attitudes here, but it seems like there is more posts that are just venting. Relax, you can have any attitude you want, I was just posting my opinions.

People don't irritate me because I don't allow it...is that what you are trying to say?:confused:

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Specializes in M/S, MICU, CVICU, SICU, ER, Trauma, NICU.
I don't think its so much about being stereotypical of Medicaid patients as it is pure frustration.

For example, I cannot stand noncompliant patients. If you do not take your meds/ see your doctor/ take ownership of YOUR body despite multiple attempts at addressing your "knowledge deficit"...I throw up my hands. I cannot help you if YOU do not help you. If you are continually noncompliant you are wasting time and money. If you are on Medicaid and either noncompliant or demonstrating an inappropriate use of medical resources (aka going to the ER for a pregnancy test) then you are not only wasting time and money but you are wasting taxpayer money as well. And seeing it day in and day out is maddening. The reason we don't mention all the respectful polite folks on Medicaid is because they are not the ones leaving sour tastes in our mouths. It doesn't mean we don't care or that we automatically judge. But if I've seen 1000 bunnies in my lifetime you better believe that I know what a bunny looks and acts like if it walks through the door.

I feel the same way. Patients come in with all sorts of co-morbidities and the frustrated families actually ask me to "speak with the patient about smoking, drinking etc.,"

That would be a "no."

My job is to make sure that during this hospitalization, you remain safe, receive the appropriate care that you deserve. If you're open to being helped, I'll go out of my way. If you're not, I will get out of your way to help you home so you can continue your existence the way you choose to until you go the path that leads to an early, but predictable death.

You are an adult and you make choices, poor though they may be...if I let them get to me, I would go insane.:eek:

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To JoPACURN: Yes. And I see you don't let them get to you either - good. And you're better at getting right to the point than I am.

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Specializes in Reproductive & Public Health.
We are not talking about the people like you (glad it worked out for your daughter). We are talking about the ones abusing the system.

I understand that. The problem is that these generalizations are extremely offensive to all of us on Medicaid who are not lazy or trying to somehow milk the system. There are lazy, selfish and rude people on Medicaid, on private insurance, and with no insurance at all. It is classist and rude to single out only those people on Medicaid. We all know the system is broken.

I am sure there are plenty of people who abuse the system, but I submit that the VAST majority of Medicaid recipients are good and honest people.

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