I've had this bookmarked for a couple of days now.
Social Security was a warm-up for Medicare and Medicaid. Newt is trolling now because they don't have a successful example of dropping the government's responsibility on individuals as they thought they would.
You don't have to have a big discussion about it right now. Just keep it in mind.
Transform It, Don't Reform It
Medicaid Needs a New Structure and the Ability to Tap Technology
By Newt Gingrich
Wednesday, March 2, 2005; Page A17...A 21st Century Responsible Citizen Medicaid Act would divide Medicaid into three distinct areas, each administered separately with its own rules and structures.
First, the act should establish a Capabilities Program to help both Americans with disabilities and those with work-related or other injuries lead the fullest possible lives. The program should provide incentives to people with disabilities to be productive, rather than threatening them with a loss in benefits if they get a job. The program should also allow participants to capitalize on technologies and therapies that maximize their abilities, and that emphasize integration into social, family and work life.
What does this have to do with Medicaid?
Well, if the disabled person becomes employed they can buy their own medical insurance.
The second area would address the needs of the relatively healthy poor, who have much different needs than people with disabilities or the elderly. Poor individuals should be offered vouchers for health savings accounts that sensitize them to the benefits of prevention, wellness and early detection.
This is flat-out crazy. Has Gingrich ever looked at a hospital bill?
Poor individuals are poor. Their income doesn't allow them to save enough to have their tonsils removed.
Third, the legislation would create a program to serve the elderly that reintegrates the family back into their care. The current system, for example, prevents a daughter whose mother is in an assisted-living facility from contributing financially to her mother's care without losing all Medicaid coverage. This either-or mentality is anti-family and leaves the recipient with a lower quality of life.
What "reintegrates the family back into their care" means is "reduce payments and let the families pick up the difference."
