Video: Medical ethicist Arthur Caplan looks at whether Medicaid should only be for the “deserving poor.”

Among his observations:

“I do not want to means-test this issue, and I do not want a test that is mean. I do not want to be saying that only the “deserving” poor should get medical assistance. I still see basic healthcare as a right that we should give to everyone. We should figure out how to pay for it, levy taxes, figure out whether it is best provided by insurance. Not everyone will qualify for cosmetic surgery; not everyone goes to the spa; not everyone gets to travel to the faraway hospital. But surgery for broken bones and taking out your gallbladder, and making sure you can see, hear, chew, and walk, ought to be the right of every American because it is the only way to assure that, in a capitalist society, people can work, people can compete, and people can use their capacities and abilities to the fullest.

“Let’s not get mean about Medicaid; let’s get sensible about it. Let’s provide it so that people are able to work.”

To hear the video, please hit this link.