Jensen responds...

Michael Jensen, publisher of the Sikeston, Mo Standard Democrat, responds to the Political Eye's criticism of one of Jensen's recent columns. The Political Eye had this to say about Jensen's column:

Remember the "welfare queen"? That invention of the Republican Right who siphons money from upright taxpayers and blows it on hooch and hair rollers? Well, she is back, according to Mike Jensen, publisher of the Sikeston, Mo., Standard Democrat. But, in this incarnation, she is the Medicaid queen, and she is rolling with the Medicaid baller.

In his response, Jensen dismisses the Political Eye's criticism and decides to try and describe the facts in order to explain how the Medicaid cuts will force people to take on more personal responsibility.

Well, despite their asinine rhetoric, I remain convinced that far too many people look for the government to provide their every need…So let’s revisit the Medicaid crisis in Missouri. Just absorb the following information and then decide for yourself … Today there are over one million Missourians on Medicaid - one in five Missourians today are on some form of state welfare.

Jensen never answers Political Eye's criticism of his comments. Jensen's characterization of medicaid recipients as urban blacks blowing their money instead of paying for healthcare is linked to his misunderstanding of the medicaid system. He characterizes the system as a form of welfare which he seems to equate with urban blacks. A characterization that is the favorite straw man of those who oppose social programs.

Jensens' misunderstanding is two-fold. Not only are the majority of medicaid recipients non-urban whites, but medicaid is a service provided to anyone who needs it and meets the requirements. One-in-five Missourians are not on welfare, but one-in-five do benefit from medicaid. It covers working families who can't cover the incredibly high costs of taking care of a paraplegic child, as well as poor families who simply can't afford to pay for insurance.

Medicaid and the medical care system as a whole need to be examined in order to bring costs down. However, misidentifying the medicaid system as a handout ignores the countless services it provides. Medicaid provides not only acute help but also provides preventative care which drives down the costs of health care by keeping people in better health which cuts down on expensive more intensive treatments.