—An examination of how Medicaid came to be, and the political and monetary forces that shape it today—
The Non-fiction Feature
The Politics of Medicaid
Author: Laura Katz Olson
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Pages: 416 | 2010
Rewards for “health behavior” or, even worse, penalties for not achieving weight-loss or smoking-cessation goals, treat low-income people like children and make them accountable for conduct not demanded of individuals who can pay for their own insurance.
It renders the poor “responsible” for their own and their children’s illnesses and forces them to pay a price for factors that may be beyond their control.
The Memoir Spot
Cost of Living
Emily Maloney
At some point I started billing differently. I can’t say when. It could have been when we had patient die and I had to bill his family.
It could have been when I saw the dizzying costs that were itemized for inpatient bills, or the time the women I evaluated–my patient, our patient–and then billed was saddled with an amount she could never hope to pay.
The Product Spot
KFF – Medicaid 101
A recent and useful primer on Medicaid and its impact.