Medicaid: Don't let privatization happen here

The GOP-led Congress and Trump administration are ensuring that for-profit corporations receive huge windfalls and tax exemptions, while they slash critical Medicaid benefits for over 10 million Americans.

That’s right; it’s a modern-day version of Jonathan Swift’s “A Modest Proposal.”

Washington state is not immune. Our legislators are working to enact two bills (HB 1388 and SB 5259) that will shift the landscape from government-provided to corporate-run healthcare.

Washington would make a mistake by moving forward with complete privatization of Medicaid. The healthcare lobby touts these measures as integration of care; all that is integrated is a payment pipeline for profit-driven insurance companies.

Problems with privatization include increased denial of services and decreased reimbursements to providers. States like Kansas, Iowa and Maine are just a painful foreshadowing of things to come: the needless suffering of many.

This story was originally published May 31, 2017 at 5:47 PM with the headline "Medicaid: Don't let privatization happen here."