Megan McArdle on Medicaid

Megan McArdle asks, How much does Medicaid improve well-being? She says, "... the evidence for the effect of health insurance on mortality is not really that strong."

An Illinois problem

Most Illinois specialists won't take Medicaid patients.

The Hill: Thirteen attorneys general, all Republicans, have written Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi requesting that they drop the Nebraska deal on Medicaid. Arkansas attorney general Dustin McDaniel is not part of the effort.

AP: Democrats are talking about expanding Medicare and Medicaid in place of the much publicized public government-insurance option. When you read my previous post, this does not soun like a good idea.

Catastrophic effects

Dr. Edward Miller, dean and CEO of Johns Hopkins Medicine in Baltimore, Md., warns:

We'll meet the demands placed on us because serving poor and disadvantaged populations is part of our century-old mission. But without an understanding by policy makers of what a large Medicaid expansion actually means, and without delivery-system reform and adequate risk-adjusted reimbursement the current health-care legislation will have catastrophic effects on those of us who provide society's health-care safety-net. In time, those effects will be felt by all of us.

NYT: Democratic governors are worried that Obamacare will hit their state's budgets hard. It will certainly saddle them will millions of dollars in additional Medicaid costs.