I have a friend who has a small insurance business. He says Medicaid patients often get a lot of medical care, but crappy medical care. They are often used for practice, in his opinion.
Just passing on the anecdote.
Another anecdote. I have a relative who has real repiratory issues and ended up on disability and Medicaid. He just keeps getting worse. I think part of it is that people lose input into getting better; it’s all about what the gov will cover.
They’re also often solicited by providers looking to defraud the Feds. There are large dental practices, for instance, that routinely recruit Medicaid patents, then over treat them. So they not only get crappy care they often get unnecessary care. This is pretty much the logical consequence you get when reimbursement rates are dropped to the level that honest practitioners can’t afford to care for those patients any more. The need doesn’t go away, you just get sleezier people trying to fill it.