And so it begins......

[Freeper]

marmar Donating Member (1000+ posts)  Journal Click to send private message to this author Click to view this author's profile Click to add this author to your buddy list Click to add this author to your Ignore list    Mon Nov-08-10 01:13 PM
Original message
And so it begins......   Updated at 12:34 AM
   
by Michael Tomasky, from the Guardian UK:



Medicaid: the assault begins


The most important article I read over the weekend was this one, in Saturday's New York Times, about some new goings-on in Texas:

Some Republican lawmakers — still reveling in Tuesday's statewide election sweep — are proposing an unprecedented solution to the state's estimated $25 billion budget shortfall: dropping out of the federal Medicaid program.

Far-right conservatives are offering that possibility in impassioned news conferences. Moderate Republicans are studying it behind closed doors. And the party's advisers on health care policy say it is being discussed more seriously than ever, though they admit it may be as much a huge in-your-face to Washington as anything else.

"With Obamacare mandates coming down, we have a situation where we cannot reduce benefits or change eligibility" to cut costs, said State Representative Warren Chisum, Republican of Pampa, the veteran conservative lawmaker who recently entered the race for speaker of the House. "This system is bankrupting our state," he said. "We need to get out of it. And with the budget shortfall we're anticipating, we may have to act this year."


So we are now talking about the dismantling of the welfare state in very specific and concrete ways. This is new, and it foretells a fundamental fight that's coming and perhaps soon. First, some background.

Medicaid provides basic healthcare to poor people. It was passed in 1965 along with Medicare, which provides healthcare to seniors. Medicare is a federal-only program. Medicaid is a joint federal-state effort, meaning states contribute a percentage (usually maybe 20 to 40% or so, varying from state to state) of the costs. .........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/michaeltomasky/...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x9512993

cleanhippie Donating Member (1000+ posts) Click to send private message to this author Click to view this author's profile Click to add this author to your buddy list Click to add this author to your Ignore list    Mon Nov-08-10 01:24 PM
Response to Original message
2. I asked a friend what he thought about this, his answer flabberghasted me.
   
We had a facebook conversation regarding welfare (he is a teabagger type) and I sent him a link to this story, along with a link showing how many Texans (he is from Texas) are living in poverty...

http://www.star-telegram.com/2010/09/16/2474711/more-te...

I asked him, that if his State does this, what will happen to the 4 million Texans that live in poverty?

His response :"We'll come up with something. We don't Fail in God's country!"

I replied with "I wonder if "we'll come up with something" is very reassuring to those 4.26 million people. Somehow I doubt it."



Some people just have a willful disconnect from reality.
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BR_Parkway (1000+ posts)  Journal Click to send private message to this author Click to view this author's profile Click to add this author to your buddy list Click to add this author to your Ignore list    Mon Nov-08-10 01:33 PM
Response to Reply #2
7. He doesn't see 4.26 million people living in poverty now as a failure?
   
Interesting
   

This from the people who are proud that record numbers of people are on food stamps.

[JohnnyReb]

Outsource illegal alien healthcare to Mexico....problem solved.

[Doc]

So we are now talking about the dismantling of the welfare state in very specific and concrete ways.

I cannot see a problem with this.

[true_blood]

BR_Parkway (1000+ posts)   Mon Nov-08-10 01:33 PM
Response to Reply #2
7. He doesn't see 4.26 million people living in poverty now as a failure? Interesting.

Funny. I think your leader, lord zero, also feels that 4.26 million living in poverty is no big deal. I mean, after all, what has he done to help that problem, except worsen it?

[Randy]

Considering 4 million of those "poor" are mexican citizens they can just go on home for their health care.

[jukin]

I cannot see a problem with this.

HI5!

In fact, I see lots of goodness in this. Watch insurance premiums in Texas go down dramatically.

[Randy]

HI5!

In fact, I see lots of goodness in this. Watch insurance premiums in Texas go down dramatically.

And the quality of care to rise as well.

[Freeper]

Funny. I think your leader, lord zero, also feels that 4.26 million living in poverty is no big deal. I mean, after all, what has he done to help that problem, except worsen it?

Hell he wants them to live in poverty. Democrats want people to be poor and helpless so every 2, 4 or 6 years (depending on which office they hold) they can promise to help them and get votes. If they were no longer poor they might become conservatives. Also if these people pay no income taxes they won't care in the least when taxes get raised. In fact they will believe that taxes should be raised so that they can get their "fair share" of the pie. Never mind that the pie exists because someone else bought and paid for all the ingredients then mixed them up in a bowl, baked the pie, and as it cools on the window sill, it gets taken, divided up and given to those who did nothing to make this pie.

[true_blood]

Hell he wants them to live in poverty. Democrats want people to be poor and helpless so every 2, 4 or 6 years (depending on which office they hold) they can promise to help them and get votes. If they were no longer poor they might become conservatives. Also if these people pay no income taxes they won't care in the least when taxes get raised. In fact they will believe that taxes should be raised so that they can get their "fair share" of the pie. Never mind that the pie exists because someone else bought and paid for all the ingredients then mixed them up in a bowl, baked the pie, and as it cools on the window sill, it gets taken, divided up and given to those who did nothing to make this pie.

To the part in red = 

[Freeper]

To the part in red = 

Thanks I was kind of proud of that post. 

[DumbAss Tanker]

And so it begins...... 

 

Marmar, you pathetic fool, could you possibly find a more overused, banal, pretentiously-dramatic subject line?

 

This overripe phrase has reached the stage of needing to be banned from the innernetwebz.  Seriously.