Steve Frey
Did you ever wonder how many of your neighbors lack health insurance? How about medication?
Do you care that friends or relatives can’t afford the medicine that could save their lives?
I know, I know…you are tired of hearing about people who don’t have health insurance. It’s their problem.
It would be easy to appeal to the religious convictions of people in the New River Valley. Everyone who has attended church for any period of time has heard the biblical accounts regarding “Love thy neighbor,” and “What you have done for these, the least…”
The bible is filled with examples that promote helping the sick and the poor. But I know, you are tired of people using Jesus’s words and actions to encourage Christians to help others. You don’t care. It’s their problem.
It doesn’t matter to you that every other first world country has universal health care. In those countries, no matter how much money you have, you can get healthcare and medicine.
Not only that, but healthcare costs less than in the United States in every one of those countries. All people in those countries have the opportunity to live…let’s leave it at that…to live.
Millions in our country, and we like to think of our country as the greatest in the world, don’t have health insurance and will die before they should. They may, you would say, but still, it’s their problem.
There are 20 million veterans in the United States who have access to healthcare through Veterans Affairs. About 59 million people receive healthcare through Medicare. Approximately 70 million people are covered by Medicaid.
All of these people receive some form of government-assisted healthcare. Medicare for all would not be hard to achieve. But let’s set aside universal health care.
Virginia is currently debating Medicaid expansion. In a recent article, Louise Norris wrote, “If Virginia were to expand Medicaid, coverage would be newly-available for about 400,000 of the state’s lowest-income residents. About 138,000 of them are in the coverage gap, not eligible for Medicaid in Virginia, and also not eligible for premium subsidies because their income is too low. They simply have no realistic option for obtaining health insurance, as their only choice is to pay full price for a private plan, which isn’t possible for most people living below the poverty level.”
The Virginia House of Delegates seems to have found a path to approval for Medicaid expansion. Now it will be up to the Senate to approve and work with the House to finally get this done.
Virginians contribute to the Medicaid program through federal taxes. Why not provide this benefit to those more than 400,000 people and have that money come back to help Virginians?
The plan proposed by the House looks like it may require some kind of work requirement. Norris also touched on that in her article writing, “Work requirements are popular among GOP lawmakers, but the vast majority of Medicaid recipients are either disabled or too sick to work, or else they’re already working, caring for children or elderly relatives, in school, or looking for work. There’s a pervasive myth that Medicaid recipients are able-bodied and not working, but that’s simply not the case.”
State Senator Emmett Hanger, Augusta County (R), summed up a proposal for Medicaid for the few who might actually fit the work requirement in a recent Op-Ed piece.
He wrote, “Essentially we need to implement a work component that is a ‘hand up’ approach, rather than punitive; that screens those who may be eligible; provides them needed health care (including mental health and substance abuse); provides them the education or skill training they might need and then matches them up with a job.”
A key phrase is “provides them the education or skill training they might need and then matches them up with a job.”
It’s a win-win situation, healthcare and a job, especially for many people in Southwest Virginia.
Some people who oppose the plan say the expansion is too much of an additional cost, but we are already paying for it in our taxes; we’re just not benefitting from it.
They say the Feds may end it, but the Virginia plan states that if they do, the program will be reduced accordingly.
Some say it’s just not appropriate, but it was approved by Congress and in the courts, so it is wholly vetted.
There really is no valid reason not to help people with healthcare through this program.
Virginia is on the brink of joining 32 other states that have expanded Medicaid and are now providing their citizens with the healthcare that they need. There are thousands of people in the New River Valley who could benefit from this program.
Some of them may be your neighbors.
It’s easy to say, “It’s their problem,” but isn’t there something wrong with a society that can help its citizens with healthcare but refuses to do so?
Yes, you may have a healthcare plan, and you have the chance to have regular appointments with doctors, ongoing treatment and medicine.
Many of our friends, family and neighbors, however, don’t, and the argument that they can go to the emergency room if they need help doesn’t work for people with cancer, heart disease or other ailments which require extensive treatment and medicine.
Some say that providing healthcare is some socialistic scheme, but it is nothing more than providing citizens with the ability to achieve life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
We all support programs like this every day by jointly maintaining the military, road systems, schools, the public library, the postal service, the fire department, the police, public parks, social security and so many other government functions that benefit some or all of us through our taxes.
Our country and our state have the resources to support healthcare programs to help our citizens. Other nations can fund these programs with less cost.
Those countries are determined to improve the lives of their citizens and provide for the health needs of everyone.
No, it is not “their problem.” Refusing to support our friends, relatives, and neighbors so that they can live long, healthy lives is OUR problem.
This Medicaid expansion program that will provide healthcare for over 400,000 Virginians, many right here in the NRV, is part of the solution.
Steve Frey is a writer and CEO of Ascendant Educational Services based in Radford.
