Another Way to Think About Medicaid:
What Shall We Do With Our Frail and Vulnerable Elderly?
Copyright © 2011, Douglas D. Germann, Sr., Professional Corporation.
574/291-0022, fax 574/291-0024, PO Box 2796, South Bend, IN 46680-2796
What are we to do as a family if Mom is in poor health, dying, and cannot pay for humane care?
Let’s be logical. What are the logical alternatives?
- Take her into our homes and take turns caring for her.
- Pay someone to care for her, even to the point of personal insolvency: Mom would have bankrupted herself for our medical care when we were in her care—we now should accept responsibility to do the same.
- Ask the community for help—friends, more distant relatives, neighbors, church, charities.
- Cut her off, put her on the street, let her die.
So what if we are not family but community, state, or nation? What responsibility do we have for our citizens and neighbors? What level of care is the base of humanity?
As a community, state, or nation, we have the same 4 choices. What if we cut her off? What if the disease she has is contagious? Do we need to protect the “more productive” citizens from her?
What is the humane thing? This is the role we have given to Medicaid, and is the basis for the perennial budget battles over Medicaid.
The point is, there is no one else to make these decisions. The only ones we have are us.