And no treatment for the hemmorrhoids who brought you to this point, either.
TD has an excellent post on the article about "Tips to qualify for tax credits on health exchanges like Duck'n'Cover Oregon" in today's Oregonian, in which he points out the understated lack of coverage afforded under the state's Medicaid extensions.
The Oregonian's Brent Hunsberger reports that Oregon's one-size-fits-all Medicaid will cover childhood dental care for elderly people with no children. Also, if you are a smoker or obese, you will get treatment and counseling. But, tough luck if you have severe spinal problems, back pain or allergies. A panel decides what gets covered and what doesn't.
TD points out that over half of all Americans suffer from allergies and 116 million have chronic back pain - while only 44 million or so use tobacco products. So the "panel", in its infinite wisdom, has decided to provide treatment for the minority of people while in essence telling millions of others to suck it up and deal with it.
Clearly, this is bass-ackwards: smokers actually save health care costs while reducing the tax load on everybody else; they pay a boatload of taxes to feed their addiction, and they tend to die way sooner than the rest of the folks. And since the majority of health care costs are incurred in old age (which smokers rarely reach), the "panel" should actually be encouraging more people to smoke - or at least not use up health care costs on treatment and counseling (does that even work? Do they have any efficacy studies?).
And much the same goes for obese folks; they're still a minority (around 36%, according to TD's figures), but they're far more likely to kick off before they hit old age, due to diabetes, cardiovascular issues, and other problems. So quit bugging them, and move those scarce health-care dollars toward allergy shots.
And what's up with all of this "you have to buy coverage that includes "well baby care", pediatric dentistry, and a "free" breast pump? Who thought that one up? How many guys in their late 50's or beyond need any of that stuff? Although the "free" breast pumps could maybe be modified somewhat, turning them into "free" sex toys...now, there could be a source of some extra money for you enterprising guys out there; sell 'em on Craigslist or someplace....
