Medicaid Spending
A story in the NY Times talks about how Medicaid spending has decreased but also mentions that - with the Health Care law - the rolls will probably increase in the coming years.
I think the ultra-rich in this country could make a huge difference to this problem. It could work one of two ways: either A, a fund is created to replace medicare, covering a certain number of the poor through direct payments; or B, the fund uses it's money to pay for private insurance for large numbers of the poor.
The idea could be tested easily. Cities have statistics on what are the poorest areas of their metropolises. You could pick a neighborhood - or a group of project buildings - and sign them all up for this program. The fund could work with social agencies and non-profits working with the same population to identify those people in need and make sure they are taken off the federal rolls and aren't double-dipping.
Maybe you could add to the program by building a clinic in the neighborhood or assigning a doctor or two (GPs) to that neighborhood or set of buildings.
Actually, now that I remember, I was thinking of a much more widespread plan that involved people from many more income levels.
I have a friend who earns over two hundred thousand dollars a year. I think he could afford to spend $300 a month on an insurance plan for someone who couldn't afford that insurance themselves. Now, my friend has four children, so that might actually be a bit more than he would rather spend. But I'm sure there are plenty of single people and older couples with grown children (or no children) who could more easily afford to pay that smaller amount to help someone who is struggling.
Maybe I should contact my brother's friend who works for the Dept of Labor and see if he can get me statistics on how many people make between $200,000 and $500,000 a year and then break down those earners by age.
The additional benefit of this plan would be that - if the money was spent on insurance plans for low-income people, the money would be going back into the economy. (I suppose it would be either way, since the direct payments plan would go right into the doctor's budgets.)
The interesting thing would be how this would effect the economy in terms of Wall Street vs. Main Street. I say that because I assume that most of these people with multiple billions of dollars have huge investment portfolios. If they were to liquidate $2-$4 billion dollars, I assume it would have an effect on Wall Street. Much the same as if Warren Buffet were to take $20bn out of Wall Street and use it to fund a private jobs program for the country.
I think the ultra-rich in this country could make a huge difference to this problem. It could work one of two ways: either A, a fund is created to replace medicare, covering a certain number of the poor through direct payments; or B, the fund uses it's money to pay for private insurance for large numbers of the poor.
The idea could be tested easily. Cities have statistics on what are the poorest areas of their metropolises. You could pick a neighborhood - or a group of project buildings - and sign them all up for this program. The fund could work with social agencies and non-profits working with the same population to identify those people in need and make sure they are taken off the federal rolls and aren't double-dipping.
Maybe you could add to the program by building a clinic in the neighborhood or assigning a doctor or two (GPs) to that neighborhood or set of buildings.
Actually, now that I remember, I was thinking of a much more widespread plan that involved people from many more income levels.
I have a friend who earns over two hundred thousand dollars a year. I think he could afford to spend $300 a month on an insurance plan for someone who couldn't afford that insurance themselves. Now, my friend has four children, so that might actually be a bit more than he would rather spend. But I'm sure there are plenty of single people and older couples with grown children (or no children) who could more easily afford to pay that smaller amount to help someone who is struggling.
Maybe I should contact my brother's friend who works for the Dept of Labor and see if he can get me statistics on how many people make between $200,000 and $500,000 a year and then break down those earners by age.
The additional benefit of this plan would be that - if the money was spent on insurance plans for low-income people, the money would be going back into the economy. (I suppose it would be either way, since the direct payments plan would go right into the doctor's budgets.)
The interesting thing would be how this would effect the economy in terms of Wall Street vs. Main Street. I say that because I assume that most of these people with multiple billions of dollars have huge investment portfolios. If they were to liquidate $2-$4 billion dollars, I assume it would have an effect on Wall Street. Much the same as if Warren Buffet were to take $20bn out of Wall Street and use it to fund a private jobs program for the country.
posted by Michael | 1:40 PM
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