The Outrage of Medicaid Estate Recovery

One nasty surprise that elderly people and their relatives encounter is Medicaid Estate Recovery. This is defined at Medicaid.gov thusly:

State Medicaid programs must recover certain Medicaid benefits paid on behalf of a Medicaid enrollee. For individuals age 55 or older, states are required to seek recovery of payments from the individual's estate for nursing facility services, home and community-based services, and related hospital and prescription drug services. States have the option to recover payments for all other Medicaid services provided to these individuals, except Medicare cost-sharing paid on behalf of Medicare Savings Program beneficiaries.

While there are exemptions families still have to go through the time and expensive of dealing with a lot of gratuitous paperwork.

The fact that going old and dying in America is outrageously expensive is bad enough. But having to impose this burden upon people shows how twisted the political system has become. It seems that social policy in this country has adopted a reverse Robin Hood principle: stealing from the poor to give to the rich.

What's odd is that conservatives are always complaining about the Estate Tax and how it imposes a "burden" on millionaires and billionaires. Medicaid Estate Recovery falls most heavily upon the poor and middle class. Pamper the rich screw everybody else.

More Info. on Joni the Nutter

Joni Ernst, the new senator from Iowa, was elected talking about how she enjoys castrating pigs. That was supposed to be a metaphor for her fervor about cutting "government pork." It now turns out that her grandfather and father received over $460,000 in farm subsidies between 1995 and 2009. Ernst’s specifically said that she is “philosophically opposed” to the program, but supports government-backed insurance and said she will throw her weight behind agricultural subsidies. Which is the definition of hypocrisy. With a "nutter" like Ernst, that may be the least of her problems.

Don't Fall for the Koch Bros. Jive

The Koch brothers, representing plutocracy at its most arrogant, have now come out in favor of "reforming" the legal system. On their agenda "The right not to be prosecuted for accidentally breaking the law; fair treatment under the law; competent and fair representation; mandatory minimum reforms; and restoration of rights." They have managed to take in the ACLU and several liberal, or allegedly liberal politicians, into their agenda. In reality, the Koch's are mostly interested in maintaining the power and wealth of themselves. The main problem in this country is the overbearing power of rich plutocrats like the Koch's. The real goal of progressives should be to cut down or better yet destroy the plutocrats power. Any other issues can wait.

We Don't Need Religious Wars

The recent killings of Deah Shaddy Barakat, 23, Barakat's wife, Yusor Mohammad Abu-Salha, 21, and her sister, Razan Mohammad Abu-Salha, 19, in Chapel Hill North Carolina were motivated because they were Muslims. The killer Craig Stephen Hicks is a self-described atheist. Islamophobia has become increasingly prevalent both in the US and Europe in recent years. People seem to forget that prejudice and violence are never justified. Islamophobia is a form of bigotry in itself.

Ignorance and Stupidity A Danger to All

The anti-vaccination campaign has finally produced a dangerous result: a measles epidemic now has 84 cases in 14 states. The "anti-vaxxers" have spread lies and distortions that now endanger all of us. Rand Paul, a practicing ophthalmologist no less, appeared on CNBC and repeated the old lie that vaccines cause mental disorders in children. Paul justifies his stance on the grounds of "freedom" and "parents own their children."

Let's leave aside, for the moment, the question of whether children should be considered "property." There is no such thing as a "right" to endanger the health of other people. The anti-vaxxers are endangering their children, which is bad enough, but they are also endangering the health of everyone else. If these idiots have their way, we'll go back to millions of people being killed by smallpox or paralyzed by polio.