Prescription for Disaster: A Medicaid Malady
I constantly ask myself why does this happen to me? Am I part of some diabolical scheme to do away with public health efforts? Silence the noisemaker! Or is it just a coincidence that I spent three years in a doctoral program studying health law and policy specific to mental health and Medicaid. Don't they know how much more it hurts me to know exactly which systemic cracks I am falling through? Why have I encountered so many random barriers to health care in addition to those obstacles strategically placed in the system? We all know them: the endless forms, the incompetent employees, the negligence that already works to deter consumers such as myself from using the public health programs to which we are entitled. Yes, entitled. Medicaid is in fact an entitlement program no matter what they would have us believe.
Don't they know who I am? Who I could be? Who I might be if only my mental health and medications would remain stable? If only my health could be stabilized, I could live the rest of my life in rhythm without having my peace of mind tampered with by bureaucratic negligence and oversight. Without having my benefits tampered with by bureaucratic negligence and oversight! I could be a real noisemaker, if only…
