Medicare Ain’t Nothing To Fuck With
April is Medicare/Medicaid Awareness Month, making it a great time to celebrate all things Medicare and discuss some prevailing issues in our healthcare system.
Medicaid Flashback
You may recall that, during the COVID-19 pandemic, the federal government declared a Public Health Emergency. That act ensured that some 87 million people would not lose Medicare or Medicaid benefits–that is, until the pandemic ended. After that, all hell broke loose. This report from August 2023 tracked what happened to enrollees in the aftermath and found that almost 3.8 million people lost their Medicaid coverage. That is a staggering number.
Even after accounting for that subtraction, more than a quarter of Americans rely on Medicaid for access to healthcare.
Attacks on Medicaid
Yet conservatives have made dozens of attempts not only to cut but eliminate Medicaid altogether (here’s a list of just a few such attempts). Why? Well, because it hurts the bottom line! Never mind that health insurers routinely deny poorer applicants just cause they’re, you know, poor.
Medicare for all!
https://library.into-action.us/media/21681/
Reality Check
Listen, I’m not going to pretend Medicare or Medicaid are perfect. Take, for example, the fact that they can be unaffordable to the very people they exist to extend healthcare affordability to. But they’re much better than letting over a quarter of Americans go entirely without healthcare, which, to be clear, is the alternative as it currently stands.
https://library.into-action.us/media/10834/
Medicaid Saves Lives
Healthcare is a human right. I believe that wholeheartedly, and I believe that it should be not only be affordable, but free. Medicaid does not go that far, but it is undeniably a step in the right direction and a good thing overall. That means we need to celebrate it and defend it.
Just because something isn’t perfect doesn’t mean it’s not worth fighting for. Without Medicaid, millions of Americans would face dire health emergencies with no hope of treatment or be saddled with unbelievable, unaffordable medical bills. So, for the people it does help, I want to raise a toast: here’s to helping all those who need it.
