Astral Codex Ten

Medicaid

4 min read

Medicaid

Article

Medicaid is a recurring concept in the Astral Codex Ten archive, appearing 4 times across 4 issues between May 04, 2021 and October 29, 2024. The archive places it in contexts such as “the government kept starting and expanding programs like … Medicaid”; “get shunted to Medicaid / be out of luck (US)”; “Medicaid will now pay for beds in psychiatric hospitals”. It most often appears alongside California, China, New York.

Metadata

  • Category: Concepts
  • Mention count: 4
  • Issue count: 4
  • First seen: May 04, 2021
  • Last seen: October 29, 2024

Appears In

Source Context

Recovered passages from the original issue text. When the raw archive preserved outbound links inside the source passage, they are listed directly under the quote.

Book Review: A Brief History Of Neoliberalism
May 04, 2021 · Original source
The post-WWII-but-pre-1970 economic world - the world of “embedded liberalism” - was a pleasant place. There were corporations, but they didn't do anything garish like compete with each other. Executive pay was taxed so heavily that nobody had much incentive to try to increase their profit margin; workforces were so heavily unionized that companies were nervous about any changes that might upset employees. As long as companies followed the script, the government embraced and protected them. Starting a new business was considered some bizarre act of alchemy, like discovering a new form of matter; normal people worked for the same giant company their whole life and got a nice gold watch as a reward when they retired. The government wasn't exactly socialist per se, but it kept starting and expanding programs like Medicare and Medicaid and Social Security, and every night you went to sleep knowing there would be probably be another uncontroversial, mostly-successful government welfare program tomorrow.
Book Review: Which Country Has The World's Best Health Care?
January 19, 2022 · Original source
5: Individuals Purchase Private Insurance is typical of the US and Switzerland. Individuals use their own money to buy insurance from private companies, which may be ambiguously-for-profit-but-heavily-regulated (some US companies) or not-for-profit (other US companies, Switzerland). If someone can’t afford to do this, they might get government subsidies (Switzerland) or get shunted to Medicaid / be out of luck (US). Those private insurances negotiate rates with private doctors and hospitals as normal.
Book Review: San Fransicko
June 23, 2022 · Original source
“There’s a provision that says Medicaid will now pay for beds in psychiatric hospitals,” explained Snook. “Medicaid (Title 19 of the Social Security Act) is a federal health care program for the poor that reimburses states [for] about 50 percent of the cost of care for people enrolled in it. It is an important source of revenue for useful outpatient programs and provides $30 billion to help the mentally ill. It’s a no-brainer, but California is hemming and hawing. They don’t want to involuntarily hospitalize. But it’s self-defeating because you end up with mentally ill [people] in jail because a bed isn’t available.”
The Case Against California Proposition 36
October 29, 2024 · Original source
Even the existing beds may not be accessible. A 2024 RAND study in five central California counties found that – in addition to severe shortages – "many facilities do not accept individuals with prior involvement in the criminal justice system, those with such physical health comorbidities as dementia, and those who either are enrolled in Medicaid or are uninsured." These policies are common in private treatment centers across the state. Of course, everyone forced into treatment by a felony conviction will have had contact with the criminal justice system, and the vast majority will be on Medicaid. In fact, Prop 36 requires that the court refer patients “to programs that provide services at no cost to the participant” – ruling out the most private treatment options.
Inline links: study