This morning’s Albuquerque Journal has two stories on Governor Richardson’s Medicaid proposals.
On the front page, under the headline "Medicaid Reforms Draw Tears," we learn beneficiaries of Medicaid home care pleaded that the state not cut the pay of their caregivers, whose work keeps them out of hospitals. This, at a Santa Fe hearing.
The front-page of the Metro Section has a story headlined, "UNMH Stands to Lose $7.6 Million."
I think it’s clear there are efficiencies to be made in Medicaid; in particular, transportation costs can be cut.
But looking at the wider picture, we see that the Democratic - dominated state government has cut taxes for its best-off citizens and seeks big savings from services for the worst-off.
Wouldn’t it be great if there were two parties?
PS Broadening the picture still further, we see that Medicaid is but one shard of a huge, broken vase called "the national health care system." Wouldn’t it be more rational to deal with it as a system, rather than shard-by-shard?
I can imagine, for example, saving billions by nationalizing the insurance function, first, then letting "health providers" compete in a medical free market.
Imagine how many more dollars we could save by destroying price control in the pharmaceutical industry. Right now, the biggest cost for hospitals and HMOs is, you got it, pills. But competition is anathema.