House Panel Approves Medicaid Cuts

[pinto]

apologies if this is a dupe...good overview of recent health care legislation activities, House and Senate

House Panel Approves Medicaid Cuts
Skip directly to the full story.
By Andrew Taylor Associated Press Writer

Published: Oct 28, 2005

WASHINGTON (AP) - A key House committee late Thursday approved a proposal to curb Medicaid spending by about $9.5 billion by the end of the decade, advancing a plan to slow spending on the federal government's health care program for the poor and disabled.

The Energy and Commerce Committee voted a party-line 28-22 for the measure, over protests from panel Democrats who said Republicans were trying to cut the deficit on the backs of poor. Republicans countered that they were making only modest trims - about 1 percent - in a program predicted to cost $1.1 trillion over the same period.

The Medicaid measure is to be folded into a sprawling budget bill to implement Republican plans that would, for the first time in eight years, take on the growth of federal programs such as food stamps, farm subsidies and student loan subsidies. The plan also would also raise revenue by auctioning television airwaves to wireless companies and leasing parts of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for oil drilling.

<snip>

The House Medicaid plan would impose new co-payments on Medicaid beneficiaries and would allow states to scale back coverage. It also would tighten rules designed to limit the ability of elderly people to shed assets in order to qualify for nursing home care, lower pharmacy profit margins and encourage pharmacies to issue generic drugs.

<more>

http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGB58V5ZBFE.html

[Erika]

1. Let's sock those poor

so we can keep tax cuts to the wealthy. W has his priorites, and they aren't Christian.

[Freedomfried]

2. Crying shame, what a bunch of shit.

The Repunk party is the enemy of the people.

[ismnotwasm]

3. I knew it.

Complete amoral assholes. Picking on the elderly and disabled. They already have been hit with budget cuts. "Leasing parts" of ANAR for drilling purposes. Hitting student loans, which also already have been cut. This thing stinks just about everyway you look at it.

[Robert Oak]

4. corporations need their welfare

This government is so GODDAMN CORRUPT!

What are we going to do! Every branch!

[Supersedeas]

18. boon for the next Halliburton installment...in Syria...or Iran

[Lasher]

5. "The Medicaid measure is to be folded into a sprawling budget bill "

This and other measures to cut social programs has been on the House floor recently. Republicans complained, and got it sent back to committee, so that the measures could be lumped into other legislation. This way, Republicans hope people won't notice when they vote to gut Medicaid and Medicare. Other programs they are now targeting:

Federal student loans—which make higher education possible for millions of American students.

Child Nutrition Programs (school lunch and breakfast, summer meals, day care meals)—which provide basic nutrition to underprivileged children in every state.

Food Stamps—the highly successful federal program that keeps millions of Americans from facing hunger and even starvation.

Earned Income & Child Tax Credits—vital tax relief for low-income working families.

Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation—the federal guarantor of private pension programs, needed more than ever in this era of major bankruptcies.

State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP).

Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and TANF—which provide basic cost of living support to millions of extremely low income and disabled Americans.

Unemployment Insurance.

[ismnotwasm]

6. Thank you for taking the time to unravel that a bit

I know they've been busy little demon bees, and legislation is very difficult to read or understand. I'm writing my congress people. This is truly disgusting. Not unexpected, but truly disgusting

[Lasher]

7. Here is a link to a local WV article on the subject

Since you are writing your congressional representative, I thought you might find some useful verbage there.

http://modernamerica.blogspot.com/2005/10/republicans-move-to-cut-services.html

[ninkasi]

15. This is where the Dems need to speak out...

"This and other measures to cut social programs has been on the House floor recently. Republicans complained, and got it sent back to committee, so that the measures could be lumped into other legislation. This way, Republicans hope people won't notice when they vote to gut Medicaid and Medicare. Other programs they are now targeting:"

They hope people won't notice their treachery...it's up to us to shout it loud and clear, and for our Dem leaders to shout it louder, so people remember.

[cornermouse]

8. The "Let 'em Die" Party strikes again.

Its a rather complete package. Denial of medicaid by cutting back funds to pay for it and by making sure that the elderly who go into nursing homes will not be able to leave anything for their children to inherit unless they are on the same level of personal wealth as many of those who are pushing this garbage...diverting funds away from the poor and homeless of Katrina and Rita toward the highways and FEDERAL BUILDINGS?...Hello?...and the greed that will not die, drilling in the Arctic Wildlife Refuge...

And look at what's probably coming to us at a later date..."With a lower savings target, Goodlatte dropped one of his more controversial food stamp proposals - which would block states from extending benefits for childless adults facing hardships such as homelessness"

Like I said, the "Let 'em Die" Party strikes again.

[papau]

9. House Mulls Cuts to Subsidies, Food Stamps (deficit reduction - GOP style)

Of course the GOP threw into the deficit reduction effort the "money raising" idea of leasing parts of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for oil drilling.. sigh. :-(

http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/bw-cong/2005/oct/28/102802112.html

October 28, 2005 at 7:46:58 PDT

House Mulls Cuts to Subsidies, Food Stamps
By ANDREW TAYLOR ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON (AP) - A plan to curb spending on farm subsidies and food stamps faced a test in a House committee, as lawmakers will work Friday to finish drafting a broader plan to slow the automatic growth of federal spending programs. <snip>

And the White House was expected to ask Congress on Friday to redirect $17 billion in already-approved hurricane relief funds to projects like repairing highways and federal facilities damaged by the storms. <snip>

For its part, the Agriculture panel was slated Friday to approve a $3.7 billion bill to curb farm subsidies and tighten eligibility for food stamps. The plan wrings $1 billion from commodity programs through the end of the decade and curbs the growth of the food stamp program by $844 million over the same period. <snip>

Late Thursday, a key House panel approved a proposal to curb Medicaid spending by about $9.5 billion by the end of the decade (via new co-payments on Medicaid beneficiaries and allowing states to reduce coverage), advancing a plan to slow automatic growth of the health care program for the poor and disabled. <snip>

[kurth]

10. Energy Bill Gives Oil Industry $88.9 Billion in New Tax Breaks

Remember that headline?

[sweepster]

11. Farm subsidies should be cut or reorganized

Most agriculural organizations have been against the farm subsidies for some time now because they hurt the smaller family run farms. The big corporate farms like ADM get most of these subsidies. The governer of Nebraska is even against them and said the programs need to be eliminated or reorganized so they help out the family run farms. A good program to start with has been taken over by large coprorate lobbyist.

Typical. Big corporation rake off the subsidies and the little guy gets shafted.

[hatrack]

12. Dump the subsidies, beef up CRP

But of course, they won't. Soil erosion? Pollution? Support for the remaining small farmers who take good care of their land?

NAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!

[Double T]

14. When will it be time to cut Congress's expense account, titanium.....

medical plan and lifetime pension???? When will the farmers with pitchforks march over to the HILL???? This is a NATIONAL DISGRACE!!!!

[Mithras61]

13. Wouldn't it be less expensive to...

reduce poverty and the need for these programs than to go the route these a-holes are going? One of the benefits to poverty reduction is that you have more income (in the form of more tax dollars coming in), so the deficit would naturally be reduced because of the people being put back to work.

Another good plan would be to get the fricking economy going (hey, if the Dems can do it, so can the 'pukes... it isn't impossible, it just requires they give up the tax cuts to the wealthy and invest in some infrastructure like FDR did...) and put the people of this country back to work.

Another thought is that maybe we could do something to stop the hemmoraging of good paying jobs to overseas firms that don't pay any U.S. taxes, and put our people back to work...

[VegasWolf]

16. Eliminating the remaining taxes on the uber-wealthy has to cost somebody

something.

:sarcasm:

[barb162]

17. disgusting!