Fascinating. Bush's medicaid plan (see below). Includes giving the states extra money over the next seven years, then cut it afterward. Just by coincidence, most of the people now in office will be gone or in other offices when the money will be cut.
These people are shameless. They have the nerve to talk about Democrats waging "class warfare." The reason they do this is that this is exactly what they are doing. They are implementing their long range plan to dismantle all the controls, the entire social "safety net" that FDR began and which were slowly expanded until Reagan, like most civilized countries. We will become a country of sharply contrasting rich and poor, with a shrinking middle class, and increasing desperation.
David Gergen was on Charlie Rose's show a couple of nights ago. He said that Bush will go down in history either as one of the great and bold presidents or as a terrible president, it isn't clear which one yet. It seems pretty clear to me which one. Gergen is a Republican, but he is too decent a guy to go along with all of the stuff that the Bush Admin is proposing, and can't bring himself to say so yet.
"Compassionate conservatism." What a sick joke.
Bush Medicaid Plan to Give States Power
Fri Jan 31, 7:13 PM ET
By LAURA MECKLER, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON - States would win sweeping new authority to remake Medicaid — cutting
or increasing benefits, adding or dropping patients — under a proposal President Bush (news -
web sites) will send to Congress.
States that choose to participate would get a pot of money to provide health care to some of
their neediest residents and unprecedented power in spending it.
The program would have to be approved by Congress, where it was already running into
opposition. In the mid-1990s, Republicans tried to overhaul Medicaid, ending the automatic
guarantee of health benefits for the poor. This proposal, while less sweeping, has some of the
same elements.
Administration officials trumpet the initiative as an opportunity for states under extreme
financial pressures to creatively remake their programs, trim back benefits without cutting
them altogether and free up money to expand coverage to others.
"If I were still a governor, I would jump — I would absolutely jump — at an option like this,"
Health and Human Services (news - web sites) Secretary Tommy Thompson, who was
Wisconsin governor, said Friday.
As an enticement, participating states would get extra federal money over the next several
years — though their payments would be reduced down the line to make up for it. Bush is
proposing an extra $3.25 billion next year and $12.7 billion over seven years. Federal
spending would drop by equal measure in the following three years. At that point, Bush will
no longer be president and many of today's governors will be out of office, too.
States would be required to maintain a certain level of spending with their own money.
Medicaid provides health insurance to about 42 million poor, disabled and elderly
Americans. The administration's proposal would have no impact on the poorest Americans,
whom states are required to serve.
Other people are added to Medicaid at state option, including children and pregnant women
with incomes just above the poverty line — and they would be subject to cuts under the Bush
plan. Further, states provide many optional benefits — notably prescription drugs, dental and
vision care and some services for the elderly — and these could be limited under the
proposed program.
If states want to do that today, they need to get special permission from Washington — a
hoop that would be eliminated under the new plan.
For example, states could require that patients share more of the cost of services by adding
copayments or deductibles. They could limit the number of visits to hospital emergency
rooms. They could cap enrollment in the program. They could offer a benefit in one part of
the state and not another.
The administration hopes states will use the savings to expand health coverage to those
without insurance at all. And officials expect states will use their new flexibility to more
creatively serve people — for instance, elderly people might prefer to get care from a
neighbor and stay their own house rather than go into a nursing home.
The plan would fundamentally alter the financing of the program. Under current law, the
federal government matches state spending. Under the Bush proposal, funding for states
would be determined in advance by a formula. So for participating states, Medicaid would
be run like a block grant — much like welfare has operated since its 1996 overhaul.
The plan came under immediate fire from Democrats and liberals, who argued the
administration is jeopardizing care now provided to vulnerable citizens.
"The Bush administration is giving a green light to slash health care for people who
desperately need it," said Ron Pollack, president of Families USA, which advocates for
expanded federal health coverage.
"Low income senior citizens, the disabled and children will all be victims of this misguided
policy," said Sen. Edward Kennedy (news, bio, voting record), D-Mass. "Congress rejected a
similar proposal in 1995, and I expect that the Congress will reject this proposal as well."
A key Republican was tepid. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Charles Grassley, R-Iowa,
said he looked forward to working with the administration on a plan for Medicaid.
Alternative congressional proposals would simply give states more Medicaid money without
making changes to the program.
Responding to critics, officials argued that while states don't have the power to alter their
programs, they can eliminate optional benefits and populations altogether.
"We can take it all away but we don't want to," said Gov. Mike Leavitt, R-Utah.
It's the latest effort by the administration to give states more control over their Medicaid
programs, which consume some 20 percent of state budgets and are growing each year. HHS
has been granting states special permission to alter Medicaid benefits if they use the savings
to expand coverage to other groups.
HHS has granted most of these requests.
Market Data 
Markets 
AI
