Recent proposed US Medicaid cuts

Burnt......you're kidding right? 🤣😂😅😆 You are name calling and saying half the country has "half a brain" yet I'M the instigator? Typical.

Well, seems the admins actually LIKE this thread. OK. I'm in, then!
The problem with most SYSTEMS is that smart people (and make no mistake, scammers are some of the SMARTEST of us) learn to play that system for all it's worth.
I happen to have an extended family member on SSDI who (in my own humble opinion) would be better working--exceptionally smart and talented. Prefers not to work.
This person is incredibly BRIGHT. Knows how to play any system. So, your tax dollars at work; what can I say.

Here's the thing with disability. A lot of it turns out to be mental disability or the ever-present proverbial "bad back" as in we-all-got-one. Many with these diagnoses end on SSDI because they are SMART enough to know how to do it.
While those TRULY sunk in the morass of REAL disability are often on the streets in a tent, unable to work and incapable of applying for/to ANY SYSTEM.
But those with some diagnosis from some shrink and some personality difficulties KNOW how to apply.
First of all comes your initial diagnosis; alone it means almost nothing.
Second, you put in the paperwork and it qualifies or not.
Third (and MOST importantly) comes the CRUCIAL followup interview with SS which says it all. And pays it all. And must be updated. And you must be capable of keeping appointments TO update it. Or it all goes away.
The interviewer isn't interested in hearing your diagnosis. They want to know WHY YOU CAN'T WORK.
I will give you all the secret (or you can go to youtube and look up "how to apply for SSDI"): HERE IS THE KEY.....You can't work because you can't deal with people.
People send you into fits and frenzies and admissions to hospital. You basically cannot leave your house. You are paralyzed. Go ahead, be dramatic; drama helps here.

There are people with bipolar who are AMAZING award-winning neurobiologists (I can tell you all about one, an amazing TEXTBOOK author; takes too much time). They deal with an illness, medicate, sometimes need hositalizations and a tune up, but they are functioning and often quite wealthy citizens, paying taxes.
And then there are some content to live at home with the folks forever on SSDI.
And the system YES, will pay for that.

These are very complicated subjects. Who gets "welfare". Who "deserves" welfare. And how much "welfare can a system do" without going under?

And where does all this money go? In San Francisco (the only place I vote conservative and we -- I can't believe it-- now have a conservative Mayor first time in my life) we dole out massive amounts of money to the system.
Does it help? Not if you read what we pay overall to/for each homeless person on the street. Could pretty much buy them a home for that money. And where does it go. Ummm. A tent. A shelter here and there. Not much, to be honest. But it sure is shoved up SOME coatsleeves SOMEwhere, and they are wealthy off it. We call those "charities" in SF. Our recent scams under our last Mayor were quite amazing. Almost worth the price of entry for entertainment. And on we go.

Anyway, I have stories. And as I said, I am a liberal. Blue DOG. (Except in SF. where I know too much).
No one has a corner on what is right or even on what is happening. To be honest, it's all so big we haven't a clue. I wish luck to whomever is tackling all of this. For SURE!

Braemay, what you posted is totally spot on. People hustling the system should be very worried but, those not running a scam will probably have to prove their actual needs, which should not be hard and once established they won't have to worry.

Burnt, you should practice what you preach. You got nasty and name called now someone else should give it a break? Smack any old people this week or yell in their faces?

@lealonnie

Really, why don't you give it a rest? Most of us here have a senior family member in our lives who instigates about politics every chance they get to start up some kind of fight. Do we really have to have it from a senior forum member in the safe space we come to for support, advice, and fellowship from others in the same situations?

A special thanks to AlvaDeer for the the welcome & I will check out the Questions forum. I have no idea what I'm doing yet, as I have never been part of an online group. My intention was to just quietly listen, learn and take notes from all of you. Also, a thanks to Gleaton777 for his balance & rationality....brought me to my senses, I needed to back out of that discussion.

Alva, there is nothing to call my congressman about. In fact, the fraying of the safety net isn’t so much political theory as a stone cold apolitical fact.

Again, Admins: Could we shut this thread down to further comment or remove it from our site? Or is that against your rules of free speech? And if so, could you please let us know!?!

@Peggy Sue, are you pretending some sort of corner on what is truth and what isn't?
Is it truth because you say it is truth?

Your comments, in all honesty, given what this thread has descended into, shows the very reason we should not bring POLITICS to this Forum IMHO.

We all have a TV. We all have News. We all have opinions and they vary. We all have laws and they vary and they are subject to change. Some we like and some we hate. There is no reason to battle them out HERE. None whatsoever. Your time would be better spent on calling your senator and congressman.

NO MINDS will be changed here. What WILL/may/can be changed is our basic decency and respect for one another. And that is the GOAL of any who may seek chaos and disruption and division, WHATEVER party they belong to.

I feel free to say that to you because our politics match; we are both liberal.
I think that political discussion has NO PLACE on AC. It hurts us. It hurts our Forum.

There are 880m in Medicaid cuts ongoing, and they aren’t all to dead people.

Hard times are coming, the safety net will be further frayed, and it is useful to discuss how that is all inevitable.

Admins: Can we close this thread to further comment and move on?

@Lea,
IS politics not allowed, Lea? I am glad, and I was unaware. I am not even certain where our "rules and regs" are anymore.
But, GOOD! Because I think it should be not allowed. And I am willing to give it a try by asking that the thread be shut down to further comment. It really doesn't say too much at this point anyway. The admins can always say "no". I am used to the word. Ha ha!

BraeMay
It ISN'T usually a whole lot of political discussion or religious discussion or other divisive discussion.
That's why we are discussing the appropriateness of the post.
By the way, Welcome. If you stay, you will judge for yourself whether or not this Forum suits your needs. I hope to see you up in Questions, where I mostly hang out, rather than in discussions.
You know, discussions are kind of discussions.
Again, welcome. Hope the site suits you, and helps with whatever issues are your concerns.
Whatever else, you cannot say we are without diversity of opinion! That can be a good thing, long as we're respectful of the opinions of others.

This post doesn't need to exist until something actually changes to warrant a discussion. Otherwise it's just a bunch of conjecture and sniping at each other's political views and blaming/shaming. Let's discuss a fact when it actually happens and then what should be discussed are what resources exist, where to find them and viable workarounds or *solutions* for those affected.

i just joined Aging Care & didnt realize it was such a politically motivated propaganda web page. I've read thru these comments & see the immaturity & lack of research or investigation being done on this subject. No one who is legitimately & financially qualified to be collecting medicade benefits will be affected by this investigation. if you do not qualify, then yes (and rightfully so) you will be disqualified and dropped by medicade. If you are under or at the poverty level & a citizen of the U.S. then you have absolutely no reason to be alarmed.

I, at 75, have chose to wait it out. I do not use tic tox or enstagram. There is too much false information out there. You can't believe anyone. Even our President gets info screwed up. There is nothing I can do to stop changes. Only pray that the ones I elected into congress and on the State level are honest and work for the people. And they are in the majority.

Which is why politics is NOT supposed to be allowed on A.C. Alva. It should be the one place we can come to and not hear about it, or know a members political affiliation.

Ha, Lea, that COULD be a relief.
But a relief that's temporary. Kind of like letting go of gas.

I don't want our community hurt by the fact that we "see it differently".
HALF the country sees it differently from the other half.
Wish we could consider different administrations a bit more like we consider the markets. Not worth defenestration, self-inflicted or otherwise.

Since this isn't a political discussion, what is this?
"Only Elon Musk, tRump and their super-wealthy buddies will be able to afford it. Vulture capitalism at its glorious best!"

Why not bring up president Trump's efforts to END THE WARS going on? Oh, because that doesn't serve the Orange Man Bad narrative?

"Only voters who had half a brain and said no to the current administration will suffer with a clear conscience." This is obviously NOT a TDS driven comment, nope, not political at all. Just a discussion by folks with half a brain and the rest who voted for communism.

Want politics? Let's talk politics.

I find, overall, PeggySue, when these things are posted, it is no accident.
This is currently a politically LOADED question.
I think denial of that fact is disingenuous.

You know, this doesn’t have to be an emotive political discussion. It’s really about how the federal government is indicating that it’s moving.

Big AMEN to notgoodenough.
Political discussions, at least on Social Media, and to me, just tends to drive us into our corners with our fists up.
When I say I am "always angry" about politics, it kind of brands me the "current loser" and I am. And that's our tendency now.

I think there's lots both sides COULD agree on if we could talk, but we can't anymore, even within our OWN party, and when anyone TRIES that, as our Gov Newsome saying that transgender people entering girls and women's sports is "inherently unfair" (in my opinion a true statement. No woman or girl athlete can win against an athlete born male, and that's unfair) he is raked over the coals until there's virtually not an unburnt piece of skin left on his body (raked over by we, the liberals, his own party).

Division has harmed this nation horribly imho. Made us unable to talk and more and more unable to listen to both sides. Made us unable to compromise. Made us unable to ACCEPT that you vote, there is a winner and a loser, and you go on. For the good of all.
Back in the day we could disagree and still admire many--or at least SOME-- on the other side. Doesn't happen anymore.

Given that, perhaps politics best off most sites that are devoted to something else, such as this one. It can do NO GOOD. It can only do harm, imho.

It doesn't matter if it's a political discussion or not because there's nothing anyone can do to stop it now. Everyone is going to suffer alongside everyone together now. Only voters who said no to the current administration will suffer with a clear conscience. The others, not so much.

I tried very hard to word my response in a way that wasn't political; rather just to outline information on a topic that is relevant to people here in the forum. Thank you, Alva, for acknowledging my efforts.

For myself, it's not politics that makes me angry, or even political discussions; it is the advent of not being allowed to disagree, or the attempt to shame people that do disagree; it's the advent of it doesn't matter if I "win" so long as the other side "loses". It's the continuing attitude of "the person I support might have done terrible things, but the person you support has done even worse terrible things, so my person is right!!" rather than "hey, they've BOTH done awful things, let's not only acknowledge it but let them know that we. their constituents, deserve and demand better". It's about politicians wanting to "win' in social media to the point of not caring about the job they were hired to do, and that is to govern.

I also can disagree with someone and not immediately brand them my mortal enemy for ever and ever until the end of time.

Thanks, NotGoodEnough, for that regarding the law.
That makes so much sense.

This was, yes--clearly--STARTED AS A political discussion.
I honestly have ZERO idea the admins rules about political discussions.

Personally I think it's just another way to engage us in anger, as politics seems now always to BE about anger--sure is for ME anyway. There won't be agreement, and may be division. But like GoodEnough's explanation about the NYState rules, it can be used to teach and inform.

I, like Lea, am self reporting and will leave it in the admins hands.
If they wish us to engage in political back and forth I am fine with that.
If they want to eliminate politics along with "is there a God or not", I am even better with that. Comfortable with their decision either way.

I believe the cuts to which Peggy is referring in NY State have to do with the Consumer Directed Personal Assistance Program (CDPAP), the program which allows a person to name and "hire" their own caregiver, usually a family member, as opposed to hiring through an agency.

While there were cuts proposed, the State legislature shot down most of them when they set the State budget.

The biggest issue in the argument were the with the Fiscal Intermediaries (FI) who were responsible to essentially act as the payroll officials for those giving care. There has been rampant fraud within the system, including a Federal Indictment in the fall of 2024 charging certain FI's with fraud in the range of 68 million.

Proponents of the changes claim that as the program stands now there is very little oversight of the FI's. Fo example, anyone can go to a lawyer and for a nominal fee of a few hundred dollars set up an LLC, go to NY State and register to be a Fiscal Intermediary and then charge for hours never worked, overcharge on hours worked or some such other means of fraud, thereby stealing large amounts of money from the system.

The State is now trying to get people using this CDPAP service to register and get paid through one main FI, managed by the state, with the hopes it will save 9 million dollars in the budget. But the rollout isn't going very well, and the fear is if the state pushes this program through in the time frame they desire, there will be a large number of people who lose the benefits because they didn't register with the new FI in time. The rollback "drop dead" date is being debated, and legislators are looking to push that date back into 2026. But insofar as losing benefits, both the Governor and the State Legislator have been united in their insistence that this new program will not diminish anyone using this program's benefits. The savings will come from the administrative end of the program, not the service end.

This thread started as a political discussion.

The post is significant in that it shows elders in wheelchairs protesting.

The "libs of tik tok" are now dictating what's happening in our country???? God help us. Reporting my comment as this thread is now a political discussion 😑

Okey-dokey Mac, hers USA Today or one of the papers they own.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/other/home-care-patients-workers-fear-major-disruption-on-april-1/ar-AA1AG8nw

I fail to see how Twitter is a bonafied news outlet

Now that these are more appropriately placed in discussions they are no longer answers to others, so out of context hard to tell what is being said. What I meant when I said that "to be honest I think that may be a good idea," it was in reply to Geaton, and involved whether Seniors should be allowed to keep a home and still get medicaid. Clawback is a thing, so there's that, but I don't understand how someone with a home, often worth between 500,000 and 2M today, can get Medicaid because they used their liquid assets. To me the home should more appropriately (if no spouse living there) be sold to pay for ongoing GOOD ALF or other GOOD care, rather than put them in Medicaid facility when they have assets (the home) for their care.