Medicaid, explained: why it's worse to be sick in some states than others

Where you live could mean the difference between life and death.

Matthew is a Medicaid recipient with a life threatening illness. He is one of 70 million Americans who depends on this program. Medicaid was passed in the mid-1960s after decades of fights over the role of government in medical care. FDR and Truman fought for healthcare, but Johnson wound up passing this landmark legislation. Around this same time, developed nations around the world passed universal health programs. The US got Medicaid.

[BellaAtkins]

The difference between the US and every other developed nation is that we see healthcare as a basic, fundamental right while the US sees it as a business.

[iammrbeat]

Every American doesn't deserve health insurance. Every American deserves HEALTHCARE. In other words, every American has the right to live.

[atandraanwesh]

The Americans are bickering over how to pay for health-care when in reality what they should be asking is why their health-care costs so much.

[nah]

Greed seems to have ruined a lot of things in America.

[toniovodka]

Im an outsider but also a doctor and i think the problem is how USA spend the money, not how much or how little. Everytime someone needs a test, a hospital bed, medicine etc, they fall in to the claws of companies that provide it with a huge margin of profit

[acmulhern]

I can’t imagine the pain of a parent who can’t afford to bring its sick child to a doctor. Health should not be a luxury.

[nictheperson]

"Where you live could mean the difference between life and death"
America in a nutshell

[GBart]

I don't get how they can complain that the US spends more than countries with socialized medicine but gets worse results than those countries and not be arguing _in favor_ of socialized medicine

[kevinolivier]

Believe it or not, i have crohn's disease, and it happened once I had an issue with my medicaid so i flew to France (yes, I'm dual citizenship) to get my treatment!

[Gabriel__-tyym]

In the USA gun ownership is a right but medicaid ownership is considered a privilege. Am I the only one finding this fundamentally wrong?

[philevans]

Can i get a woop wooop for Mississippi at the bottom of another ranking

[lindabthompson]

as a stage 4 cancer survivor with several chronic medical issues that cancer gave me i must contend with the rest of my life, i am terrified. trump does not care about anyone but himself, and he just wants us to die - i am absolutely convinced of it.

[kit]

I will never fathom why Americans are so against universal *healthcare*. It just doesn't make any sense to me at all!

[tomlangford]

Americans are so strange. Not only do you not have healthcare, you don't want it and get angry if anyone tries to give it to you.

[myenimtown]

The more i watch these videos the more grateful i am for the NHS...y'all really live at the mercy of business men that's terrible

[chrismason]

I'm English and I'm a disabled veteran. If it wasn't for our national health service (NHS) I would probably be dead. It amazes me that a country as rich as America doesn't provide medical care for all its citizens. I simply can't believe it. I love America. I love it's people. I love it's values. I love it's patriotism. But I can't get behind its archaic system of privatised health care. Get your bloody act together. Can't you see how ridiculous you look to the rest of the civilised world?

[Olivia-W]

NY Medicaid- thank you. I owe you my life, more than once.

Thank you for treating my dad's back so he could go back to work, thank you for my friend's insulin, so she can live on, thank you for everything you've done for everyone.

Whatever my gripes with Democrats may be, they're way better than the literal massacre Republicans are...

[persimmon]

US Politician: $1 band-aid?!?! Too expensive!!! $1 billion jet aircraft!?!?! Approved!!

[saquerel]

I live in France, and our Medicaid covers the ENTIRE population, and it's working quite well. The poor are cared for, the rich are cared for, EVERYONE gets Healthcare and I don't imagine the number of lives that are saved each year... One day the USA will have a great system too, I'm sure of it ^^

[KingLou]

yall know who has it bad? College Students who cant afford both college and healthcare. Like i work but i cannot afford healthcare at all. And they have All these crazy high deductibles that cost 4x the amount of the doctors visit. So im paying 2k dollars for a 300 dollar doctors visit. After that im only covered for like 6 more doctors visit a year. Then i have to pay 200 dollars a month for health insurance (minimum). (These numbers are from the last time i tried shopping for health insurance in my state a couple months ago)

Solutions to healthcare are very simple. Create a universal healtcare system and stop wasting tax money on useless wars. People complain when their taxes are misused on the poor but never when it is used on wars that kill thousands of innocent people in different countries. Like why tf are my tax dollars also being used in foreign countries. Both democrats and republicans are to blame for this. One is just worst than the other. hopefully you know which one it is.

The US has the strongest economy in the world raking in the most money. Alot of the top richest people in the world are Americans. And you're telling me with all the amount of wealth we bring in were 18 trillion dollars in debt? How is it possible that the strongest economy in the world has debt? Like what are we wasting money on. Oh wait useless wars.