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| Uninsured Flocking to O'care in Rural Kentucky |
| 2013-11-25 |
| Enough personal 'helping the poor stories' to warm the heart of any liberal. But to save you the time, many have been on the gubbamint dole for a long, long time and some used to work in the coal mines. No one observed that more could be working in the coal mines, were it not for the war on coal. Most in the article on going on Medicaid; I missed any strong, young folks signing on in case they were to be struck by lighting. "Yeah, we live on this side of the hill," said Woodrow Wilson Noble, whose family farm had gone under, who lived on food stamps and what his mother could spare, and who was about to hear whether he would have health insurance for the first time in his 60-year-old life. This is how things are going in Kentucky: Where the computer system works, it seems As conservatives argued that the new health-care law will wreck the economy, as liberals argued it will save billions, as many Americans raged at losing old health plans and some analysts warned that a disproportionate influx of the sick and the poor could wreck the new health-care model, Lively was telling Noble something he did not expect to hear. "All right," she said. "We've got you eligible for Medicaid." I am SO glad SOMEBODY is coming out ahead on this deal! Places such as Breathitt County, in the Appalachian foothills of eastern Kentucky, are driving the state's relatively high enrollment figures, which are helping to drive national enrollment figures as the federal health exchange has floundered. So most of the enrolment that Champ's supporters are taking credit for are signing up in the functioning state exchanges. In a state where 15 percent of the population, about 640,000 people, are uninsured, 56,422 have signed up for new health-care coverage, with 45,622 of them enrolled in Medicaid and the rest in private health plans, according to figures released by the governor's office Friday. You don't need a calculator to do that math. If the health-care law is having a troubled rollout across the country, Kentucky -- and Breathitt County in particular -- shows what can happen in a place where things are working as the law's supporters envisioned. How's that? Bankrupting the middle class? Or my grandchildren? One reason is that the state set up its own health-insurance exchange, sidestepping the troubled federal one. Also, Gov. Steve Beshear (D) is the only Southern governor to sign on to expanded eligibility parameters for Medicaid, the federal health-insurance program for the poor. Somebody remind me who's paying for this. Kentuckians? Or all US taxpayers? "Okay, Woodrow, now you get to shop a little bit," she said, explaining options he'd never had before. "If you go to the doctor, all you're going to pay is $1," she began. "If you're in the hospital for an extended period, you should only be billed $5. . . . If you get medicine, generics are $1 and brand is $4. . . . You can go to the dentist once a month -- exams, X-rays and cleanings are covered. . . . Now for your teeth, the plan does take care of having them pulled and does take care of fillings, but not bridges, because that's considered cosmetic." "I got some warts on me I got to take off, some moles," said Woodrow. "I might have that colonoscopy done. My mom had colon cancer twice. I never had money to do it." He said he was told it could cost at least $2,000. "I got this pain in my left shoulder," he said, lifting his arm and rotating it. "Might be arthritis, I guess. I don't know." The per-capita income in Breathitt is about $15,000, and the rates of diabetes, hypertension and other health problems earned this part of Kentucky the nickname "Coronary Valley." I thought The War On Poverty was supposed to help those folks. |
| Posted by:Bobby |
| #13 Some of the cheapest land in the region is around these places. The only plot I found that made me groan over the price was: a) an historical farm, b) the site of the only diamond deposit in Kentucky, c) home to multiple oil wells. |
| Posted by: Rob Crawford 2013-11-25 21:31 |
| #12 well, Frankly.... |
| Posted by: Frank G 2013-11-25 21:28 |
| #11 #11 Well, frankly, (can I say that?) Your infidel-privileging speech has not gone unnoticed. Forwarded to the Saracen-American Rights Council. |
| Posted by: Zenobia Floger6220 2013-11-25 19:10 |
| #10 Well, frankly, (can I say that?) these are the people Medicaid was designed for. Altho I suspect Woodrow Wilson Noble (9.75) will be an expensive addition to the risk pool. That ache, them teefs. If it's cheap to consume it will be consumed. But in this case, well I'm gonna cut Woodrow Wilson Noble (brother of Montgomery Ward Noble?) some slack. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2013-11-25 17:46 |
| #9 I don't think I want the kind of award you've been giving a certain Canadian lately. I'm not a Democrat either. So I'll consider myself warned. |
| Posted by: Abu Uluque 2013-11-25 17:32 |
| #8 Not if you're a Democrat. Or a Canadian leftist. In fact, you might even get an award if you were the latter. |
| Posted by: Pappy 2013-11-25 14:30 |
| #7 Will I be accused of racism if I say "poor white trash"? |
| Posted by: Abu Uluque 2013-11-25 12:04 |
| #6 Check back in a year, see if those people still have Obmacare and feel good about it. Bet big bucks, they don't. |
| Posted by: Redneck Jim 2013-11-25 11:19 |
| #5 Good one from Wretchard. |
| Posted by: Deacon Blues 2013-11-25 10:50 |
| #4 I guess manufacturing the news is an ongoing process. Geez, lets see was it George Orwell or Aldrous Huxley that came up with that? Hmmm, that's supposed to be science fiction.... |
| Posted by: Bill Clinton 2013-11-25 10:39 |
| #3 Sorry about the Glish Tholump4651. It's really JohnQC. I cleaned out my browser and cookies as I was getting too many people trying to sell me stuff. |
| Posted by: JohnQC 2013-11-25 09:06 |
| #2 Warms the cockles of my heart (sarc on). At last a Democide feel good story...However, it's WaPo. I'm watching Sarah Kliff from WaPo on CSPAN now. If you like this story and believe it, you will most likely like and believe what she is saying on CPSAN. If you are dubious about anything said or that comes from this administration because they have a history of lying about the sun coming up, it will sound like just another load of fictitious, made-up crap. |
| Posted by: Glish Tholump4651 2013-11-25 09:04 |
| #1 The Breathitt County paradox. John Galt might understand. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2013-11-25 08:40 |