8 ms·

>Imagine being sick, having no insurance, maybe no job... Sorry no. Long term unemployed people in the US qualify for free medical care, celphones and basic d

>Imagine being sick, having no insurance, maybe no job... Sorry no. Long term unemployed people in the US qualify for free medical care, celphones and basic dental work. The process is arduous, yes, but it is comprehensive. I had entire recurring blood panels, multiple MRIs, neurological impairment tests , every hospital visit and all of my prescriptions provided for free. Lumping all levels of poor together is just lies that obfuscates larger issues.

dev_dull 7y ago
It’s the working middle class that get soaked.
mnm1 7y ago
What program are you referring to? AFAIK, This is only in states that expanded Medicaid so it's a real situation for millions in states that didn't. Or are you talking about some other program?
- massivecali 7y ago
  California programs, so yes expanded Medicaid. But as the state that consumes the most in welfare, it seems highly relevant when discussing the needs of the 'poor'. Programs: California Medi-cal (which covered all of my medications, tests, etc), Denti-cal (all dental work thats not cosmetic), my obama phone, calfresh (for ebt food) and calworks (cash monthly stipend) are the only programs I can speak to. I'm grateful for what I had to fight to receive during a bad period of my life and hate seeing misrepresentations like this being spread without specific context. Had I not been able to finally get working again, I would have eventually qualified for free housing, utilities and all the other benefits available from programs that are funded from various sources. I made several friends through the course of going to these offices over a long period of time who were admittedly worse off than me (mentally) but somehow knew all the inside information on how to game the system. (Ex: if you are considered impaired you can get free bus/subway/van service card, which they all knew how to easily acquire). I had to ride my bicycle or walk everywhere to get back and forth from these appointments. https://www.marketwatch.com/story/no-other-state-comes-close-to-california-when-it-comes-to-welfare-spending-2017-11-28 https://www.marketwatch.com/story/no-other-state-comes-close...
  - mnm1 7y ago
    I'm glad you were able to get healthcare, but the parent comment you're responding to and your own comment are both talking about the entire US. What you wrote is simply false. There are 14 states that still haven't expanded Medicaid and millions of poor people are without health insurance. California isn't the US and pretending like it is misleading and helps no one. https://www.kff.org/health-reform/state-indicator/state-activity-around-expanding-medicaid-under-the-affordable-care-act/?currentTimeframe=0&sortModel=%7B%22colId%22:%22Location%22,%22sort%22:%22asc%22%7D https://www.kff.org/health-reform/state-indicator/state-acti...
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
edoo 7y ago
It wasn't free, it was paid for by someone else.
- gambiting 7y ago
  By that definition literally nothing that is produced/provided by humans is free, and I feel like it's unhelpful to insist on such narrow definition of free. Everyone here knows exactly what OP meant by that and there is nothing to be gained by pointing out that free healthcare was paid for by someone else - of course it was.
  - edoo 7y ago
    If it requires the output of another person's labor to supply the good or service it is absolutely not free, and the parasitic mindset that allows one to think it 'free' is pure mathematical unsustainability, aka terrible culture. If the OP meant something else why didn't he say what he meant then?
EliRivers 7y ago
Well then, serious question - not just passive-aggressive snark - why does this happen? https://www.theguardian.com/news/2016/nov/23/enormous-pop-up-clinic-trying-bridge-americas-health-divide https://www.theguardian.com/news/2016/nov/23/enormous-pop-up... And other articles too. People inside the USA, travelling ( sometimes for days) to queue (sometimes for days) for a dentist. Why are there organistations in the US whose purpose for existence is to travel around, providing free dental care to any and all comers? Like a medical mission to a country suffering enormous poverty.
- retiredcoder 7y ago
  I think the cue is at “Virginia is one of 19 states refusing federal dollars to close the healthcare “coverage gap” for people not poor enough for Medicaid, but too poor for anything else.“
  - EliRivers 7y ago
    I am way out of my depth; why would a state refuse that money? What is the cost of accepting it that 19 US states feel is too high? Not demanding this of you specifically; maybe someone, anyone, can answer.
    - marme 7y ago
      the argument they made is the money is temporary. After a few years the federal money goes away and the state has to foot the entire bill so they would rather just refuse the program entirely. This is their public reasoning but the reality is more that it is program proposed by Obama so they just want to refuse it on political principle
    - retiredcoder 7y ago
      As the sibling commenter mentioned, it is a political decision to take federal funds, which sometimes goes against the best interest of the electorate (not claiming to be the case here but seems like so when we read such articles).

dev_dull 7y ago

It’s the working middle class that get soaked.

mnm1 7y ago

What program are you referring to? AFAIK, This is only in states that expanded Medicaid so it's a real situation for millions in states that didn't. Or are you talking about some other program?

massivecali 7y ago
California programs, so yes expanded Medicaid. But as the state that consumes the most in welfare, it seems highly relevant when discussing the needs of the 'poor'. Programs: California Medi-cal (which covered all of my medications, tests, etc), Denti-cal (all dental work thats not cosmetic), my obama phone, calfresh (for ebt food) and calworks (cash monthly stipend) are the only programs I can speak to. I'm grateful for what I had to fight to receive during a bad period of my life and hate seeing misrepresentations like this being spread without specific context. Had I not been able to finally get working again, I would have eventually qualified for free housing, utilities and all the other benefits available from programs that are funded from various sources. I made several friends through the course of going to these offices over a long period of time who were admittedly worse off than me (mentally) but somehow knew all the inside information on how to game the system. (Ex: if you are considered impaired you can get free bus/subway/van service card, which they all knew how to easily acquire). I had to ride my bicycle or walk everywhere to get back and forth from these appointments. https://www.marketwatch.com/story/no-other-state-comes-close-to-california-when-it-comes-to-welfare-spending-2017-11-28 https://www.marketwatch.com/story/no-other-state-comes-close...
- mnm1 7y ago
  I'm glad you were able to get healthcare, but the parent comment you're responding to and your own comment are both talking about the entire US. What you wrote is simply false. There are 14 states that still haven't expanded Medicaid and millions of poor people are without health insurance. California isn't the US and pretending like it is misleading and helps no one. https://www.kff.org/health-reform/state-indicator/state-activity-around-expanding-medicaid-under-the-affordable-care-act/?currentTimeframe=0&sortModel=%7B%22colId%22:%22Location%22,%22sort%22:%22asc%22%7D https://www.kff.org/health-reform/state-indicator/state-acti...
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]

edoo 7y ago

It wasn't free, it was paid for by someone else.

gambiting 7y ago
By that definition literally nothing that is produced/provided by humans is free, and I feel like it's unhelpful to insist on such narrow definition of free. Everyone here knows exactly what OP meant by that and there is nothing to be gained by pointing out that free healthcare was paid for by someone else - of course it was.
- edoo 7y ago
  If it requires the output of another person's labor to supply the good or service it is absolutely not free, and the parasitic mindset that allows one to think it 'free' is pure mathematical unsustainability, aka terrible culture. If the OP meant something else why didn't he say what he meant then?

EliRivers 7y ago

Well then, serious question - not just passive-aggressive snark - why does this happen? https://www.theguardian.com/news/2016/nov/23/enormous-pop-up-clinic-trying-bridge-americas-health-divide https://www.theguardian.com/news/2016/nov/23/enormous-pop-up... And other articles too. People inside the USA, travelling ( sometimes for days) to queue (sometimes for days) for a dentist. Why are there organistations in the US whose purpose for existence is to travel around, providing free dental care to any and all comers? Like a medical mission to a country suffering enormous poverty.

retiredcoder 7y ago
I think the cue is at “Virginia is one of 19 states refusing federal dollars to close the healthcare “coverage gap” for people not poor enough for Medicaid, but too poor for anything else.“
- EliRivers 7y ago
  I am way out of my depth; why would a state refuse that money? What is the cost of accepting it that 19 US states feel is too high? Not demanding this of you specifically; maybe someone, anyone, can answer.
  - marme 7y ago
    the argument they made is the money is temporary. After a few years the federal money goes away and the state has to foot the entire bill so they would rather just refuse the program entirely. This is their public reasoning but the reality is more that it is program proposed by Obama so they just want to refuse it on political principle
  - retiredcoder 7y ago
    As the sibling commenter mentioned, it is a political decision to take federal funds, which sometimes goes against the best interest of the electorate (not claiming to be the case here but seems like so when we read such articles).