Repair Health Care System ; But Don't Throw Poor Off Medicaid As Bad Answer for Huge Deficits
Posted on: Wednesday, 16 November 2005, 09:00 CST
Here's a revolutionary concept from your Republican-controlled House of Representatives: Keep the poor off Medicaid, the health insurance program for the poor.
That bit of illogic is in a budget bill that was pulled from floor debate Thursday but may come up again this week. The committee- approved measure would save nearly $54 billion through 2010 with cuts to student loans, agriculture subsidies, food stamps, child support enforcement and Medicaid. The health plan would save $30 billion by scaling back some benefits and letting states impose co- pays and premiums on the poor. Experts say this would drive out millions of poor families.
A parallel Senate effort to reduce deficits would trim $35 billion from Medicaid by cutting prescription drug spending and clamping down on Medicaid fraud. It doesn't match the House chutzpah in targeting the poor.
American taxpayers are rightly concerned about federally funded health care costs, but they're not heartless. And their concern has an even deeper worry than budgetary woes. They are not getting health value for their health care dollars at any level, a recent six-nation study shows. Americans faced the highest medical costs and were the most likely to pay $1,000 out of their own pockets for medical expenses, and still faced the highest medical error rates and the most disorganized care. Expert analysts said the quality of medical care here is eroding, even while costs continue to escalate.
One of the strongest arguments against Canada-style national health care has been quality of care and access to treatments. If that's eroding anyway, cost control becomes a stronger argument for socialized medicine. That ought to concern the health care industry deeply and spur development of an improved version of our private- public health care system.
Source: Buffalo News
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