Obama's Health Plan Will Crack Whip on States

Doctors nationwide are “outraged” by President Obama’s health care plan, but “I call it progress,” writes one Missouri physician for Salon. The reform would take oversight out of the hands of states, which seemingly specialize in “lax regulation of private insurers” and poor handling of Medicaid. Ford Vox sees physical rehab patients from Missouri and Illinois, but “if you're struck by a calamity sufficient enough to enter our care, I hope you don't live in Missouri," he writes.

Just as California's budget last week tossed 40,000 disabled people from its rolls, Missouri’s Medicaid budget was cut by its governor in 2005. So don’t expect outpatient physical therapy or wheelchair batteries—but Medicaid’s happy to stick you in a nursing home instead. As for private insurers, “American business has no problem pushing around the states.” With Obama’s reforms, health care will catch “the national limelight,” and “most state-based horror stories will cease,” Vox concludes.
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