As the battle-lines are now being draw,  Democrats VS Republicans the political posturing is unbelievable. Depending on what report you believe there are 20 million or 8 million people benefiting from the Obamacare. Reports claim that 12 million are getting health insurance from Medicaid expansion. Is Medicaid really an insurance program though?  Unlike Medicare, Medicaid is an entitlement program. Simple to understand Medicare is an TRUST FUND plan that employees and employers pay in payroll taxes from the time they start working until the time they retire. Medicare is not an entitlement. One has to work at least 10 years (where most people work 50 years and pay into the system) to qualify for Medicare. Medicaid on the other hand you don’t have to work at all. In fact you qualify for Medicaid most of the time by not working. Medicaid and Medicare seldom overlap but Obamacare and Medicaid do. What is interesting though as I have written before about the public health systems is that in major cities across the US,  We do not coordinate with taxpayer funded systems and in most cases they compete against each other.  Public Health  systems  around the country spend  a enormous amount of time with patients seeking reimbursements from Medicaid program run by the states..  Public Health systems are required by federal law and are typically run by county or city governments. Local governments are normally at the mercy of the state governments to receive funding. I have found it interesting that if everyone is suppose to have health care through Obama private insurance or through the Medicaid program, why do local taxpayers have to pay for a public health care system for those who do not have a healthcare program? So why are we double paying for services as tax payers? Shouldn’t the system coordinate tax payer funded programs? I did ask a couple politicians and the answer I got was well that is the federal government program or the that is the state government program or that is the county program. Questions? Isn’t it all taxpayers money? President Trump would be well advised to look at the whole puzzle of health care and bring the pieces together. In Cook County last year there were over 855,000 patients treated thorough the public health system. The resources are there already to provide quality healthcare to all Americans

 

Tim Elenz

Telenz@Benefitsage.com

 

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