The grim future of Medicaid

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1. I have a neighbor who is on medicaid.

When I met her she had just been diagnosed with a cancerous tumor. She went through surgery and hospitalization with the very best care and she came through it. I asked if she was going to be paying bills for a long time, and she said "there were no bills". She has some mental health issues which require a psychiatrist, and she pays nothing for those either.

She lives with her stably employed partner of 20 years, but they are not married. She works part time at a convenience store, but there is an understanding between her and the employer that she cannot exceed a certain number of hours or she will lose Medicaid and snap. She does odd jobs for cash only.

She doesn't want more hours or to get insurance through her employer - because she would work harder and end up with less money. She doesn't want to get married and be covered on her husband's insurance because the out of pocket copays - would probably be very large.

It sounds like the coverage she has is good - but it does distort her life in so many ways. I think this is true for a lot of people.