Yes!! As I was reading this article, that is exactly where my thoughts went. These are professional abusers with all the power. I feel so incredibly sad.
Great piece as usual, Stephen. One statistic that was omitted is how many people on Medicaid are retirees (or did I miss that?). As is always the case, the orders to live a health lifestyle demanded by Dr. Oz cannot possibly apply to the orange-faced fat slob in the WH. The GOP is so lacking in imagination that it must constantly rehash old jargon: welfare queen, fake new, hoax, etc. Pahleeze.
Any senior who needs round the clock care or extended nursing home stays either pays out of pocket, or it is paid by state medicaid programs. Medicare only pays for a limited time. In order to qualify for medicaid to pay, you have to be completely broke. This is hardly abuse. The GOP is a bully party.
No you don't. My mother owned her home and still qualified for Medicaid nursing home coverage, but she passed away beforehand. If she hadn't, she would've had to sign her house over to the state. To my knowledge, all Medicaid is federal money administered by the states unless they opt out.
Medicare is what insures most retirees, with Medicare Advantage covering what Medicare does not. Medicare Advantage premiums are paid by Medicaid funds in some states. You still foot the bill for deductibles and uncovered expenses.
Medicare Advantage does not pay what Medicare does not. It is an alternative to traditional Medicare, and a lousy one at that. It is the Medicare supplemental insurance options that pay what Medicare does not when the subscriber is on traditional Medicare.
Does GOP stand for Government Ordained Profits? (I’m just making stuff up). Anyway, I do think we need to start replacing the word ‘Privatize’ with ‘Piratize’.
Well said! It has always made me wonder if the true welfare queens are more like the private health insurance companies that get tax payer dollars to profit from? It always seemed to me when the GOP blames the poor or needy they are protecting a profit center somewhere.
1 in 4 americans get medicaid. the ones that lose it---many will die. that is trumps goal, kill those that make so little money that they can qualify for Medicaid bc they are useless to society, and he doesn't want to pay for their benefits for years and years to come
Those hypocrites have public health insurance, and I wonder how much work they actually do besides begging for election funding from billionaires and corporations, posting lies on social media and making appearances on Fox.
Don't forget that a very important part of medical healthcare is prevention. I'm an old guy with a failing heart valve and I have several prescription medications that I uses daily to reduce the problems associated with being in my 7th decade. An annual physical keeps watch over those conditions and is how the narrowing heart valve was detected 4 years ago.
Interesting how both "The Left" and "The Right" persistently lie about Medicaid.
"In 2023, nearly two-thirds of adults ages 19-64 covered by Medicaid were working and nearly three in ten were not working because of caregiving." ...Source: KFF
The Right reverts to 1980's "able bodied/strapping males just sitting around doing xyz while living high off the hog" while "The Left" (Bernie Sanders specifically) claims Democrats have done absolutely nothing for working people" (Medicaid was result of ACA provision targeted to help working people who didn't qualify for or couldn't afford health insurance).
I have to admit that I've never understood the "able-bodied men" sitting around playing video games and getting Medicaid benefits" scenario. You have to assume they mean young men but what exactly is the benefit? Assuming they're able to complete the application and documentation requirements and be accepted into the program, the claim is that they're getting unfair medical benefits? Which benefits? Many tests and exams are only allowed on an annual basis; many are age and/or diagnosis related; prescriptions require a doctor's sign off. As someone wrote, Do you think they're getting an unfair colonoscopy? If only a reporter would ask them to specify which benefits they're receiving, because they aren't getting cash or food. And, if they're able-bodied but not working how are they surviving? PS: video games are expensive and so are consoles.
Your blog inspired this StoryMap. We mapped the number of people in Andrew Ogle's district who do not have health insurance. Same for Mike Johnson, Steve Scalise, David Valado and all the congressional districts in the country. Now you have the facts to call out their B.S.
Republican scheme to fool you about their MEDICAID CUTS explained: Check this map
Oh, those Republican patriots! First, the wise surgical incisions made by DOGE to benefit a slimmer Federal bureaucracy. Now, more cuts in essential Medicare, Social Security et al which will no doubt prove the compassion and perfection of Big Daddy and the donor elite. What could possibly go wrong?
20 years ago I became unemployed and after living 6 months on cashing in my retirement, I ran out of money and had to go on public assistance. Believe me, the myth of welfare recipients living free and easy is definitely a myth.
First, the humiliation of sitting in the welfare office for hours until your name is called, and then being told to come back the next day would make me walk out with tears in my eyes knowing I would have to walk the 3 miles in the snow again the next day. Then there was "workfare," where you had to go to your assigned place of work (usually a county office) and perform menial tasks all day. Your boss was told how many hours a week you should work but they were free to use you for much more - I worked for a woman who made me work at least 48 hours a week.
I have hypertension and back then, there was no doctor in the town who accepted Medicaid. I had no car so I couldn't get my prescribed medication. Also, I woke up sick one morning and couldn't work, so I stayed in bed, having no phone and not being well enough to walk to a pay phone. When I returned to work 2 days later, I was fired. Social services punished me by cutting off my cash benefit for 60 days, and my food stamps as well. They kept Medicaid in place, but as I said, I had no means for using it.
i couldn't pay my rent so my landlord had my water shut off for failing to pay the $20 bill. He found out it would take too long to evict me, so he had the housing code officer, a friend of his, condemn my apartment for not having enough smoke detectors.
I hid in that apartment for a month, living on potatoes and melting snow for water to wash with. I eventually found a friend to stay with, my cash assistance was restored but the amount of rent this friend wanted took all my money. It was a long, painful time in my life. Whenever I read or hear about some rich snob whining about how people on welfare are just lazy cheats, my blood boils.
My point is that with few exceptions, nobody wants to be on welfare. Another important thing about my experience was that I felt that I had lost my identity. I felt invisible, like I no longer mattered. I had a very good job, and everything in my life fell apart overnight. The psychological equivalent of a beggar, it made me realize how much money is part of our self esteem. Worst of all, I hadn't any idea of how hard it is to hit rock bottom and having to fight with all I had just to claw back up.
They are using the language of abusers who aim to demean their victims and lower their self-esteem.
Yes!! As I was reading this article, that is exactly where my thoughts went. These are professional abusers with all the power. I feel so incredibly sad.
Infuriating how these demeaning false myths keep perpetuating… sad because it hits the grievance “g” spot so well
Grievance is so very easy … the injuries to the disadvantaged, pure gravy for the depraved.
Great piece as usual, Stephen. One statistic that was omitted is how many people on Medicaid are retirees (or did I miss that?). As is always the case, the orders to live a health lifestyle demanded by Dr. Oz cannot possibly apply to the orange-faced fat slob in the WH. The GOP is so lacking in imagination that it must constantly rehash old jargon: welfare queen, fake new, hoax, etc. Pahleeze.
Any senior who needs round the clock care or extended nursing home stays either pays out of pocket, or it is paid by state medicaid programs. Medicare only pays for a limited time. In order to qualify for medicaid to pay, you have to be completely broke. This is hardly abuse. The GOP is a bully party.
No you don't. My mother owned her home and still qualified for Medicaid nursing home coverage, but she passed away beforehand. If she hadn't, she would've had to sign her house over to the state. To my knowledge, all Medicaid is federal money administered by the states unless they opt out.
Yes, they can do that, which means they are destitute since the state essentially owns their only remaining assets.
They’re eating the dogs! They’re eating the cats! They’re trying to survive!
Medicare is what insures most retirees, with Medicare Advantage covering what Medicare does not. Medicare Advantage premiums are paid by Medicaid funds in some states. You still foot the bill for deductibles and uncovered expenses.
Medicare Advantage does not pay what Medicare does not. It is an alternative to traditional Medicare, and a lousy one at that. It is the Medicare supplemental insurance options that pay what Medicare does not when the subscriber is on traditional Medicare.
Does GOP stand for Government Ordained Profits? (I’m just making stuff up). Anyway, I do think we need to start replacing the word ‘Privatize’ with ‘Piratize’.
Well said! It has always made me wonder if the true welfare queens are more like the private health insurance companies that get tax payer dollars to profit from? It always seemed to me when the GOP blames the poor or needy they are protecting a profit center somewhere.
1 in 4 americans get medicaid. the ones that lose it---many will die. that is trumps goal, kill those that make so little money that they can qualify for Medicaid bc they are useless to society, and he doesn't want to pay for their benefits for years and years to come
That Donald—he sure knows a freeloader when he sees one … each morning as he dresses.
Those hypocrites have public health insurance, and I wonder how much work they actually do besides begging for election funding from billionaires and corporations, posting lies on social media and making appearances on Fox.
Republicans are evil, disgusting shitheads- now there’s a mantra we can get behind!!
Don't forget that a very important part of medical healthcare is prevention. I'm an old guy with a failing heart valve and I have several prescription medications that I uses daily to reduce the problems associated with being in my 7th decade. An annual physical keeps watch over those conditions and is how the narrowing heart valve was detected 4 years ago.
Interesting how both "The Left" and "The Right" persistently lie about Medicaid.
"In 2023, nearly two-thirds of adults ages 19-64 covered by Medicaid were working and nearly three in ten were not working because of caregiving." ...Source: KFF
https://www.kff.org/medicaid/issue-brief/understanding-the-intersection-of-medicaid-and-work-an-update
The Right reverts to 1980's "able bodied/strapping males just sitting around doing xyz while living high off the hog" while "The Left" (Bernie Sanders specifically) claims Democrats have done absolutely nothing for working people" (Medicaid was result of ACA provision targeted to help working people who didn't qualify for or couldn't afford health insurance).
I have to admit that I've never understood the "able-bodied men" sitting around playing video games and getting Medicaid benefits" scenario. You have to assume they mean young men but what exactly is the benefit? Assuming they're able to complete the application and documentation requirements and be accepted into the program, the claim is that they're getting unfair medical benefits? Which benefits? Many tests and exams are only allowed on an annual basis; many are age and/or diagnosis related; prescriptions require a doctor's sign off. As someone wrote, Do you think they're getting an unfair colonoscopy? If only a reporter would ask them to specify which benefits they're receiving, because they aren't getting cash or food. And, if they're able-bodied but not working how are they surviving? PS: video games are expensive and so are consoles.
'Tis a mystery! If only there was a profession dedicated to asking these very questions and reporting it to the public....
Ah yes, I remember that Welfare Queen - and Willie Horton - and the real “crime” was breathing while black.
Your blog inspired this StoryMap. We mapped the number of people in Andrew Ogle's district who do not have health insurance. Same for Mike Johnson, Steve Scalise, David Valado and all the congressional districts in the country. Now you have the facts to call out their B.S.
Republican scheme to fool you about their MEDICAID CUTS explained: Check this map
https://thedemlabs.org/2025/07/23/republican-scheme-to-fool-you-about-their-medicaid-cuts-map/
Oh, the irony of cable TV personalities haranguing people for . . . watching TV.
Oh, those Republican patriots! First, the wise surgical incisions made by DOGE to benefit a slimmer Federal bureaucracy. Now, more cuts in essential Medicare, Social Security et al which will no doubt prove the compassion and perfection of Big Daddy and the donor elite. What could possibly go wrong?
20 years ago I became unemployed and after living 6 months on cashing in my retirement, I ran out of money and had to go on public assistance. Believe me, the myth of welfare recipients living free and easy is definitely a myth.
First, the humiliation of sitting in the welfare office for hours until your name is called, and then being told to come back the next day would make me walk out with tears in my eyes knowing I would have to walk the 3 miles in the snow again the next day. Then there was "workfare," where you had to go to your assigned place of work (usually a county office) and perform menial tasks all day. Your boss was told how many hours a week you should work but they were free to use you for much more - I worked for a woman who made me work at least 48 hours a week.
I have hypertension and back then, there was no doctor in the town who accepted Medicaid. I had no car so I couldn't get my prescribed medication. Also, I woke up sick one morning and couldn't work, so I stayed in bed, having no phone and not being well enough to walk to a pay phone. When I returned to work 2 days later, I was fired. Social services punished me by cutting off my cash benefit for 60 days, and my food stamps as well. They kept Medicaid in place, but as I said, I had no means for using it.
i couldn't pay my rent so my landlord had my water shut off for failing to pay the $20 bill. He found out it would take too long to evict me, so he had the housing code officer, a friend of his, condemn my apartment for not having enough smoke detectors.
I hid in that apartment for a month, living on potatoes and melting snow for water to wash with. I eventually found a friend to stay with, my cash assistance was restored but the amount of rent this friend wanted took all my money. It was a long, painful time in my life. Whenever I read or hear about some rich snob whining about how people on welfare are just lazy cheats, my blood boils.
How horrible. I'm sorry that you went through that.
My point is that with few exceptions, nobody wants to be on welfare. Another important thing about my experience was that I felt that I had lost my identity. I felt invisible, like I no longer mattered. I had a very good job, and everything in my life fell apart overnight. The psychological equivalent of a beggar, it made me realize how much money is part of our self esteem. Worst of all, I hadn't any idea of how hard it is to hit rock bottom and having to fight with all I had just to claw back up.