Prerequisite humiliation for Medicaid and S-CHIP
The Argus
January 2, 2004
Sign ups for health insurance scheduled
OAKLAND — If you’re low-income and need no- to low-cost health insurance for both children and adults, mark Jan. 10 on your calendar.
That’s the day the Alameda County Social Services Agency will sign up children, families and senior citizens 65 and older for state and county health plan programs.
(Medi-Cal program specialist Belinda) Llaguno said applicants should bring a
birth certificate, marriage certificate or valid picture identification; proof of immigration status, Social Security card, proof of address (such as a utility bill), proof of income (such as wage stubs), child care receipts, vehicle registration, current bank statement and proof of other assets (such as life insurance).
http://www.theargusonline.com/Stories/0,1413,83~1971~1866160,00.html
Comment: Could you imagine being asked for this amount of documentation before being enrolled in either an employer-sponsored plan or an individual
private health plan? Yet those least able to afford health care coverage are
being subjected to this humiliating and burdensome process that denies these
individuals the right to privacy that the rest of us expect.
The obvious reason for extensive documentation is to establish that income and assets meet a level of poverty that would warrant public assistance for health care. Yet the rest of us are not required to establish a level of income and assets that would qualify us as being able to afford the payments for private insurance.
Health care coverage should be automatic for everyone, from the moment of birth, regardless of income or assets. Adopting a universal program of social insurance would end this unnecessary, humiliating process by including everyone in an equitably-funded system.