As an update to Hunter's "
Betsy McCaughey back with exciting new Obamacare theories", from last year, I happened to see "Why the Fine Print of Obamacare Could Cost You in Life & Death" when I was over at
National Review and "
Money Morning" popped up, which opens with dire and scary warnings like this:
A secret buried deep in the fine print of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is the latest proof of Obama's master plan to confiscate your wealth-in life and in death.
A chilling revelation is now coming to light in certain states, where Medicaid applicants aged 55 and over are discovering that "Free Health Care" really isn't all that free. In fact, quite the opposite is true. Once you die, Medicaid can come back and bill your estate for what you "owe" them for ordinary health care expenses.
The new expanded Medicaid program in Washington (all thanks to Obamacare) includes estate-recovery clauses that will allow for collection of nearly all medical expenses. Things like routine tests, doctor visits, and preventative care can now haunt your loved ones after your death.
This recently uncovered "death tax" is just like a predatory loan, where the banker doesn't disclose the payback requirements that will be expected of you, leading you and your family to end up in debt.
Problem is it is total bullshit.
Politifact has the truth of the matter, in detail, concluding with:
Those who are Medicaid-eligible under the ACA also should know that the 1993 federal law bars estate recovery when there is a surviving spouse, a child under the age of 21 or a child of any age who is blind or disabled. And that there are exemptions that will allow other family members to keep the family farm or home under certain circumstances.
And they should know that the Affordable Care Act didn’t create Medicaid estate recovery rules or revise them. ACA merely expanded access to health care for millions of uninsured low-income people.
McCaughey, who I had the misfortune to have to live in the same state with when she was Lieutenant Governor of New York, has a profile at
Right Wing Watch.
She's pushing her Obamacare books (read horror-story lies) and videos to the fallible, and is best buds at FOX with dim-twit Elisabeth Hasselbeck who promotes her expertise.
It woulds be nice to see Jon Stewart humiliate her again, like he did around her "death panels" but she'll stay safely at Fox as a "health care expert". She's an expert all right.
Expert liar and wing-nut.