Medicaid: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)

John Oliver discusses why millions of people have been kicked off of Medicaid, why Medicaid access was difficult even before the current “unwinding”, and what would happen if fruits and vegetables could talk.

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[marastar]

Everyone with Medicaid that I know is working. Their pay is just shit. People talk trash about those on medicaid like they are "taking advantage" of someone they are not. I barely make 15.00 an hour. Lost medicaid. I have fibermyalgia, rehumatoid arthritis, chronic asthma. Getting up and going to work everyday is something I do and some days it is very, very hard. Thank you John Oliver for bringing attention to this situation.

[VanRocCarMor]

When Fallon and Colbert are off the air, Oliver will still be here. This format just works. He’s easily got another decade and change.

[starlilies]

My mother has to re-enroll my younger disabled brother EVERY year for Medicaid. And they are constantly finding new ways to try to knock him off Medicaid, including stating that he needed to be working in order to qualify. Mentally disabled, unable to speak, and barely able to walk, he is completely dependent on my mother for all his care, including bathing. Medicaid refused to believe that he was disabled, regardless of the doctor's note, so one year, my mom took him to the SS office, where he proceeded to yell, knock over chairs, and cause a ruckus. It took them 10 seconds to realize he was unable to work and approved his Medicaid. Until the following year when she had to re-enroll him again.

[bigbennybuckets]

I can't tell you how disappointed I was that the closing PSA didn't end with a cutaway to Stanley Tucci gently reassuring me that I could calm my rage with a nice, refreshing negroni.

[zlpatriot]

I'm 31 years old and am on Social Security and Medicaid. I work and I feel trapped as I'm not allowed to earn above a set amount per year or lose both SSI and Medicaid completely. Yet, there are so many strings attached to the point that it's a poverty trap I never wanted to be in. I want everyone to have universal healthcare.

[fiveangrybunnies]

I'm a single mother of 5. I worked my ass off to get my family out of poverty and into a home of our own. Then I got a $1 an hour raise at work.
My $1 extra an hour added $160 a month to my total income, but I lost both Medicaid and food stamps. Even with going to food banks every chance I could to try to help, losing my $800 a month in food stamps really hurt us. My $160 extra a month at work wasn't going to feed us all. Losing Medicaid meant I needed to add a health insurance plan at work (and for my size family, it was about $800 a so I ended up back in poverty again. It's ridiculous. Getting that raise literally cost me everything.

[dr.bshousecalls]

In Florida I have a patient (I am a primary care doc) who could not afford to come to a doctor - but finally went to the ER with his severe abdominal pain. They ran blood work and did a CT scan. They told him that he had metastatic pancreatic cancer that has spread to his liver. He left the ER with that diagnosis. He has no money. He has no insurance. He lives in his car. I cannot even imagine how someone could deal with this even if they had money, a home, support, and access to good care with good insurance. Welcome to Florida, where I routinely advise patients to move back to the states or countries they came here from - where they had health care.

[StrawberryJelly]

I live in NC and I’m in college. I finally have Medicaid after NC passed an expansion. I have to have two surgeries this year and I’m so thankful they’ll be covered. My doctor said one of them could technically be pushed back a few years but I said no, I want to do it while I know for sure that I have Medicaid coverage. You never know what could happen after elections

[Angry]

That thing of "We'll give you healthcare if you're deserving" sounds a lot like eugenics.

[jannea]

I realized decades ago that I needed to either squeeze myself much higher up on the socioeconomic ladder to a level unrealistic for me to attain, or impoverish myself far enough below the poverty line that I can reasonably avoid panic attacks every year when I recertify for Medicaid.

[marcellrosamonda]

I live in Idaho and when I was pregnant I was told I made $10 too much to qualify for Medicaid. My insurance also dropped me for missing one payment so I had to go through my pregnancy without any insurance until I was shipped to Oregon for complications with my kiddo. In Oregon I qualified for Medicaid.

[tree]

The fact that our society tries to justify which people are and aren’t deserving of basic health care tells me EXACTLY how much it values life.

[infidelheretic]

People don't actually WANT to be sick or injured. "Inelastic demand" is a concept that economists ought to apply to the medical field.

[goodtroublemaker]

In Montana, the hospitals and dentists and nursing homes are sending the Medicaid claims by certified mail because the Medicaid office seems to have mistaken their shredder for an inbox.

[davidjairala]

John had no idea how well that secret service joke was about to age

[marcofkosi]

I’m from Spain, this topic is beyond my comprehension, I just cannot understand how healthcare can be a privilege

[MisterNightfish]

That "doctor" going "Yup, sometimes we let people sit in their own shit for a few days, ain't no big deal" was really something. How is he a real person?

[elizabethflynr]

John Oliver educates or at least opens the door for folks to do more research. He’s hilarious and is keeping me out of my psychiatrist’s office during these nuts times in the US

[Flemrora]

As a Canadian it is horrifying being reminded that even basic healthcare processes are handled this way in the states. As a *disabled* Canadian, the means testing aspect is extremely relatable. For anyone who has never had to trust in one of these programs to survive, the process of filling out the piles of monthly and yearly forms, is itself more work than multiple jobs I worked when I was younger, without even getting into the anxiety of the eternal awareness that a pen stroke from a politician could functionally end your life.

[TheGuitarTheory]

I literally lost my Medicaid last week and wondered why. I have 3 girls, work full time taking care of my 84yr grandma, and live with Bipolar 2 and psoriatic arthritis. I’m devastated and have no idea what to do. I have an appointment at the welfare office this week so wish me luck 😞