Medicaid Cuts

While we were sleeping (actually, while we were enthralled by the Punch and Judy show), the bad guys were at work. Suddenly, up on the radar screen comes the budget vote. And, of course, those elected members of what Billmon calls the Chamber of Deputies have children in their sights. Have they no shame? From the AP:

"We'll bring the first part of our package ... to the floor when we have 218 votes," said Rep. Roy Blunt...the Missouri Republican who has temporarily replaced indicted House Majority Leader Tom DeLay.

Blunt was referring a bill that Republican leaders had hoped to pass in the House on Thursday to cut mandatory federal programs, such as Medicare, Medicaid and student loans, by $50 billion over the next five years, instead of the previously planned $35 billion. (emphasis added)

This is the same Tom DeLay who, according to a blurb on Kos:

A Texas court issued a warrant Wednesday for former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay to appear for booking, where he is likely to face the fingerprinting and photo mug shot he had hoped to avoid.

(I know, I know, Boston elected a Mayor while he was still in jail. But, that's Boston. This is the Chamber of Deputies of the United States!)

Just what is on the table for Medicaid? Well, there are a number of things that affect children. They want to do away with Early and Periodic Screening, Diagnosis and Treatment (EPSDT) and they want poor people to have to pay a copay for prescriptions. Both bad ideas.

As more and more American families lose their employee sponsored health insurance (and I could go on about this for years) the only health care they can get for their children is State Health Insurance which is really just Medicaid. It is simply unconscionable to cut this program any further. It already functions on the very rim of solvency. A significant portion of my office staff's day is spent trying to get prescriptions and services for Medicaid patients. These are services for which I am not reimbursed. Not screening them for illnesses that cost much more to treat if neglected (dental carries is a good example), and requiring poor people to cough up copays for the pharmaceutical industry to take a dollar bath in are both bad, bad ideas. I don't care how much money Republicans want to "save."

And why do the Republicans led by Tom "Bug Man" DeLay (I know, he is theoretically not the big man any more; any more that Al Capone wasn't the big man, ever)? Why, they want tax breaks for the rich:

Rep. Steny Hoyer...of Maryland, a leading Democrat, also said that Republicans have another motivation for pushing a new round of spending cuts....The Republican budget blueprint calls for $70 billion in tax cuts over five years, which would add about $35 billion to the U.S. debt unless more spending reductions are passed.

Yea Steny!! You've got my vote.