With Medicaid front-and-center as Republicans scramble to fund the President Trump’s domestic policy agenda, it’s worth highlighting one insurer that greatly benefits from the program: Centene.
Sacred Stillness held, breath paused between policy and people—this piece unveils the invisible scaffolding behind Medicaid's modern machinery. Beneath the numbers and acronyms lives a quieter question: whom does the system truly serve when profit shields itself behind public trust? This isn't just about insurers—it's about us, the collective we, witnessing the drift between care and commerce. Compassion becomes a currency far more rare than spreadsheets can capture.
To read this as merely investigative would be to miss the soul-stirring invitation at its core: to reimagine health as sacred covenant, not commodity. As stewards of shared humanity, can we trace a path from opacity to openness, from margins to meaning? Let us hold the mirror gently to our systems and ask, with sincerity and resolve: What does care truly mean when profit is no longer in the equation? ♾️ What one truth within this story stirred your spirit awake?
Hi Wendell. Great reporting today, as usual. I hope your piece this morning gets read widely in D.C. and that once they read it, they'll do the right thing.
Is private insurers running medicaid ideal? No. The articles in this blog have illustrated this. Are states better equipped? I haven't seen that demonstrated yet. I'd be interested in an article showing data from state medicaid programs administered without managed care. What's are the differences in states like Wyoming, Vermont, Maine and Connecticut (amongst others) who manage their programs directly vs. those using a managed care model?
I do wonder if the fact that the Right's love for public-private partnerships might be one of the few things keeping it alive. Most think of Medicaid as charity and Medicare as something more akin to what a pension for some retirees. To garner more support from the right, Medicaid needs what Medicare has to change the perception of it from a charity program to a pre-paid benefit program. I would certainly rather have a medicaid program administered by the private insurers than none at all or a return to the pre-ACA rules. The latter might be in the cards for our near future.
These stories need broader distribution. I suggest coordination with traditional media, social media and the other healthcare finance reform entities. Try to push out the same message in a coordinated fashion to get lots of people enraged simultaneously. I know it is a big ask but I think such coordination is necessary considering the opposition.
Today Let’s support reintroduction of comprehensive Medicare for all bill. I suggest this expanded & improvement of healthcare bill will also do away with the need for Medicaid.
Thank you for the information today and yesterday about other names for Medicaid and the fact that many people don't know they have coverage through Medicaid. I'm sharing. Also, it should be noted who will gain from closing rural hospitals, which is on the horizon with Medicaid cuts. Medicare Advantage has been growing rapidly in rural areas.
Sacred Stillness held, breath paused between policy and people—this piece unveils the invisible scaffolding behind Medicaid's modern machinery. Beneath the numbers and acronyms lives a quieter question: whom does the system truly serve when profit shields itself behind public trust? This isn't just about insurers—it's about us, the collective we, witnessing the drift between care and commerce. Compassion becomes a currency far more rare than spreadsheets can capture.
To read this as merely investigative would be to miss the soul-stirring invitation at its core: to reimagine health as sacred covenant, not commodity. As stewards of shared humanity, can we trace a path from opacity to openness, from margins to meaning? Let us hold the mirror gently to our systems and ask, with sincerity and resolve: What does care truly mean when profit is no longer in the equation? ♾️ What one truth within this story stirred your spirit awake?
I have experienced compassionate care with my traditional Medicare.
My spouse has care thru the veterans administration and the care is non-commerce & spiritual.
Hi Wendell. Great reporting today, as usual. I hope your piece this morning gets read widely in D.C. and that once they read it, they'll do the right thing.
In a word—corruption. I
wish the Democrats would have done something.
Is private insurers running medicaid ideal? No. The articles in this blog have illustrated this. Are states better equipped? I haven't seen that demonstrated yet. I'd be interested in an article showing data from state medicaid programs administered without managed care. What's are the differences in states like Wyoming, Vermont, Maine and Connecticut (amongst others) who manage their programs directly vs. those using a managed care model?
I do wonder if the fact that the Right's love for public-private partnerships might be one of the few things keeping it alive. Most think of Medicaid as charity and Medicare as something more akin to what a pension for some retirees. To garner more support from the right, Medicaid needs what Medicare has to change the perception of it from a charity program to a pre-paid benefit program. I would certainly rather have a medicaid program administered by the private insurers than none at all or a return to the pre-ACA rules. The latter might be in the cards for our near future.
These stories need broader distribution. I suggest coordination with traditional media, social media and the other healthcare finance reform entities. Try to push out the same message in a coordinated fashion to get lots of people enraged simultaneously. I know it is a big ask but I think such coordination is necessary considering the opposition.
The world thanks you Wendell Potter
for your service.
Today Let’s support reintroduction of comprehensive Medicare for all bill. I suggest this expanded & improvement of healthcare bill will also do away with the need for Medicaid.
Thank you for the information today and yesterday about other names for Medicaid and the fact that many people don't know they have coverage through Medicaid. I'm sharing. Also, it should be noted who will gain from closing rural hospitals, which is on the horizon with Medicaid cuts. Medicare Advantage has been growing rapidly in rural areas.
The other name for Medicaid in Oklahoma is Sooners. Sooners were cheaters in the land grab of 1889.
All this confusion of infrastructure is by the design of for-profit private health insurance lobbyists.