Medicaid cuts . . . coming to a parasite near you?

Photo above - one of the 14,532 videogames released last year. You can immediately see the attraction this would have for a 30-year-old unemployed incel stoner . . .

House speaker Mike Johnson apparently has DOGE’s back. He’s telling CNN that “Medicaid is for single mothers with small children who are just trying to make it. Not 20-something guys playing video games on the couch”. Yes . . . he really said that. See link below.

Why weren’t we told this rip-off was happening before? Actually, I missed the warning signs myself.

Next door neighbor to my mom has a 31-year-old (not 20 something) who hasn’t worked in 4 years. The good news? He was turned down for welfare, because he’s not disabled. The bad news? He’s collecting Medicaid. The worse news? He’s living off his mom’s social security check and savings. He drives a car provided (and insured) by her. He eats the food in her refrigerator. He pays no rent - he has no job. He doesn’t even run the washing machine or dishwasher. Netflix and online videogaming are his chief pursuits.

Actually, that Medicaid benefit might be helping him. He’s seeing both a psychologist AND a psychiatrist at the same time, paid for by Medicaid and the affordable Obamacare act. But this young man's caregivers disagree. The psychologist told him cut back on his drinking, but pot use was still A-OK. When he didn’t get better, she referred him to the psychiatrist who told him to stop using ALL mind-altering substances and spend less time online. Maybe it takes a while for this sort of thing to build momentum, and show results? Anyway, the MLS season has started, and it’s must-see TV for this lad. Just in time too, because Premier League (British soccer) is winding down for the year. Televised Formula 1 races and hockey are also going to help fill his free time.

If Medicaid is ended for people who refuse to get off the couch and get a job – like Mike Johnson threatens – my mom’s neighbor is going to face unimaginable choices. Actually DO get a job (he was formerly a clothing salesperson) . . . or lose his health coverage, and resume using pot and liquor. This is a fork in the road. Which path is likely to he choose? It hardly matters. His mom is going to pass in a few years, and he will inherit her house free and clear, and then lose it to repossession because he can't pay the property taxes and insurance. He and his mom are caught in a small-scale tragedy hidden from most people's view.

There are no budget numbers attached to the CNN article. They would be highly speculative, anyway. We can probably count the number of single moms below the poverty line, who will keep their Medicaid benefits under Johnson’s plan. But how you define “able bodied” and “stoner” and “videogame addict” could be controversial.

The only thing I can be sure of – when Medicaid changes come – is that some legitimately sick kid is going to be front and center on the evening news. But thousands of slackers being cut off from free healthcare aren’t going to be the lead story.

I hope no sick kids lose their benefits. But it's possible - in a perfect world - they might actually get BETTER healthcare if the government directs its sympathies and tax dollars to the truly needy, instead of truly pathetic couch potatoes.

I’m just sayin’ . . .


https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/mike-johnson-shakes-world-of-20-somethings-on-couch-collecting-government-checks-it-s-all-over/ar-AA1A07rq?ocid=msedgntp&pc=HCTS&cvid=6b0f733de0514747b87593b9945f0b1d&ei=34