It's been a long, slow road where it appeared many Republican governors would deny their most vulnerable citizens healthcare to prove a political point, and while there are still hold outs, namely the two Ricks from Florida and Texas, Ohio's governor at least as seen the light. He announced on Monday that he will seek to receive the federal Obamacare dollars made available to expand Medicaid. Gov. Kasich will have to get his legislature on board,but what I find amusing is the rationale.
You see, he thinks Ohio should take the money because I mean other states are taking the money and they'll have more business investment because they'll have a healthier workforce. What a novel concept! If you help people get healthcare, they get healthier and are more productive, thus more attractive to employers and potential businesses.
What a novel concept! If you help people get healthcare, they get healthier and are more productive, thus more attractive to employers and potential businesses.
ReplyDeletePerhaps not a novel concept, but certainly an unproven one. Note paragraphs 3-5.
In any case, a Republican governor abandoning their alleged limited government principles in the pursuit of free money surprises me not at all.
I might cite this study which shows that people with lower or no co-pay are more productive: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2012/10/09/study-when-health-insurance-costs-rise-productivity-drops/ We could hypothesize then that the less it costs to engage with healthcare, the more productive the person is.
ReplyDeleteAnd in the link you cite, I'm familiar with the Oregon study they cite. In phase two they intend to consider actual blood work, so that's an incomplete study. But even in the limited results the study released people who were covered felt healthier. One could then also hypothesize that someone with ready access to low cost healthcare is healthier because of lowered stress levels.
One can hypothesize about a lot of things, but the fact remains that any such linkage remains unproven.
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