To The Editor:

I had to laugh at the Letter to the Editor from Elizabeth Hykes. I'm sure Ms Hykes is upset about President Trump's reduction in Federal funding for certain programs, such as for mental health.  However, just about every insurance (including Medicare and Medicaid) covers this overpriced and worthless industry.  Even if Federal programs were to not cover this nonsense, the Missouri Department of Mental Health would pick up the tab, something that Ms Hykes failed to mention.   

 

As for programs like Medicaid facing cuts, they desperately need to be overhauled.  Medicaid and Food Stamps are jokes. You have people who get enough in Food Stamps to eat steak. How?  They pop out kids every chance they get so the work requirements don't apply, while those kids qualify for more Food Stamps.  Or they don't report all the members of the household because members are earning an income that they don't want DFS to find out about.  President Trump wants to clean up this abuse.  Ms Hykes, as a liberal, doesn't think these abuses matter.  Liberals think the answer to everything is to throw more money at it, something that ex-President Biden proved with his stimulus payments that caused high inflation. 

 

Yes, Medicaid provides for people who can't afford medical care out of pocket.  That's providing you can find a doctor that will accept Medicaid, which most in this area won't because Medicaid's reimbursement rate is horrible.   

 

Medicaid covers mental patients, but mental treatment is the most laughable industry there is.  Paying college educated people to sit for an hour and listen to people whine about their feelings is such a waste of time and money.  And yet, Medicaid and the Missouri Department of Mental Health guarantee that therapists, psychatrists and psychologists will have a revolving door of customers who are too lazy to deal with their own life.  So why is Ms Hykes whining? 

 

Did you know that most of the medications that Medicaid will cover do not prove beneficial for many patients?  The medicines that actually help are either not covered by Medicaid or are covered for a limited duration.  If you want the medications that actually help you, you can either pay yourself or have your doctor write letters in the hope that Medicaid will actually start caring that Drug A helps the patient while Drug M (Medicaid's approved drug) provides about as much benefit as drinking the water and flushing the pills down the toilet.   

 

President Trump and the American people want these abuses to stop.  Stop accepting people who just don't want to work.  Start doing things that actually help, such as reimbursing doctors a fair amount so they'll actually care about poor people.  Provide medications that have been proven to benefit the patient.  Stop throwing money at programs that DO NOT help, just because it’s en vogue. 

 

Missouri is a recipient state because people like Ms Hykes have ALLOWED it to become a recipient state.  President Trump wants to improve things, not keep the status quo. 

Lisa Toler, Pomona, Mo.