Manufactured News of the Day: Medicaid is Just Wonderful

Gee, some group out of Harvard and MIT put their eggheads together and came up with a study saying how great a government program going broke is?

Signing up for Medicaid could improve your overall health and financial security, says a surprising new study that offers clues on how President Barack Obama's health care overhaul might affect millions of low-income uninsured Americans.

The findings run counter to a widespread perception that having a Medicaid card is no better than being uninsured, and maybe even worse.

Led by economists at Harvard and MIT, and released Thursday by the National Bureau of Economic Research, the study found that having Medicaid significantly increased the chances people will perceive their health as being good to excellent, while decreasing the likelihood they'll have to borrow money or skip paying other bills because of medical expenses.

Not to be suspicious or anything, but when a group counts Paul Krugman and a who's who of Obama economic advisers as notable members, alarm bells begin ringing.

What, that's not mentioned in AP's puff piece? Funny how that is.

Medicaid is a federal-state program for low-income and severely disabled people now covering about 60 million Americans. Starting in 2014, it will also pick up about half the more than 30 million uninsured people gaining coverage under the new health care law. Since it pays doctors far less than Medicare and private insurance, some experts have questioned whether Medicaid coverage will translate into medical care that people need.

So when Medicaid collapses under the crushing weight of ObamaCare, the authors of this tripe will all remind us how misleading they were, right?

Naturally, the caveats are buried deep.

There are some caveats, however.

Adding 10,000 people to the Medicaid rolls in one state involves much less strain on the health care system than bringing in 15 million to 17 million people nationwide in 2014, as the health care law envisions. If there aren't enough doctors at that time, patients who just gained coverage could have a hard time finding a provider, or face long waits for an appointment.

Really, you suppose there will be a doctor shortage? How could this be?

But let's not examine the obvious conflicts of interest here. The media sure won't. You'll hear all day long how wonderful Medicaid is, and obviously how anyone disagrees wants to kill Grandma.