RE: Medicare/Medicaid - Running out of assets

From: Nancy Slator <neslator@amherst.edu>
Subject: RE: Medicare/Medicaid - Running out of assets
Date: Fri, 10 Jul 1998 08:57:16 -0400 (EDT)

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> Medicaid is a program to assist those who cannot afford medical care. In our
> paychecks, we are taxed for programs such as these, in the form of a social
> security tax. Welfare assists those who cannot work, and therefore do not
> pay into the system. My mother worked for 50 years and paid into the system.
> If she and others like her do not wish to impoverish themselves in order to
> receive benefits from a system they paid into, then it is their right to
> transfer assets to their children to do so.

If elders have money, then they *can* afford medical care.  If they give
their money away rather than pay their own way, then they have turned
themselves into public charges. Their children, to whom they gave the
money, are turning their parents' care over to the government rather than
paying for it as a family obligation. 

My mother may or may not be in a position to leave money to her children. 
I resent my tax money paying for the care of other people's mothers
because they chose to give their money to family members rather than take
care of themselves. 

I *don't* resent my tax money going to pay for welfare for truly needy
people who haven't engineered their poverty to qualify for government
benefits. 

- -- Nancy Slator, neslator@amherst.edu




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