First off it bothers to me to know end when people think because people want to cut back on what is spent on some government programs they want to punish the poor or they want to abolish altogether. The Medicaid program, and other programs, are the major contributor to the artificial pricing we see in healthcare in the US that led to the problems we have now. If I were in Congress I would want a cut in Medicaid because 1) there is rampant abuse of the system and that in large part is why we are in the financial mess that we are in; 2) I would want to create an economic system in which more people are employed and thus DON'T NEED the assistance any longer. However, what that translates to is "YOU DON'T LIKE THE POOR HERP DERP" by many people on the Left side of the political spectrum. Quite the contrary, I want to actually help poor people, unlike many on the Left side of the political spectrum. What this guy is arguing is "Medicaid IS available and if Joe Blow down the street can use it why can't I? If you want ME off the system, no problem, then get rid of the ENTIRE system". Seems like a reasonable argument to me, but the reaction tells me is there is no substantive argument against what he is saying so people jump to logically fallacious arguments and create straw men and resort to ad hominems. Not surprising coming from a journalist, to be honest.
