“True, Medicare is supplemented by the government. But Medicaid is a straight handout. Medicare is a hand up. BIG difference IMHO.”
There is no fundamental difference between medicaid and medicare when you look at the fact that neither recipient pays the cost of their care. Medicare recipients paid a tax their working lives - but it was a tax. They will collect far more in “benefits” than they ever will have paid in - and in doing so cause cost-shifting onto folks who actually pay for their care or private insurance.
The question of healthcare for old folks and folks with chronic conditions and poor folks will only be answered by the private sector, private charities, and doctors and hospitals willing to participate in charitable activities. It will not be answered by government - government has already failed.
I suppose the money deducted from my Social Security check each month to help pay my Medicare expenses doesn't count? You can call my payroll deduction a tax if you want but the fact remains that, with Medicare, you pay for it in advance during your working life and receive the "payoff" later.
Medicaid, funded 100% by you and me, gives its recipients a payoff now.
I'm done discussing this.