Oppose HHS/Medicaid cuts

Proposed cuts part of war on rural citizens

With the announcement of the proposed 'reform' of the Medicaid funding in order to help shave off 4 billion dollars over the next few years comes the understanding it will mean underfunding vital services. The Health & Human Services Department has proposed slimming down the Medicaid budget and preventing the Federal Government from spending more than the law allows. Currently, the Federal Government will pick up the cost of arranging contracts and deals between states and healthcare providers, but this requires it to spend more than allowed by law. With the ending of the practice, there is hope from the Bush Administration that money will be saved. However, such saving comes at a high price: rural hospitals, clinics and nursing facilities will lose some funding.

The Kaiser Family Foundation, which is a leading researcher of healthcare policies and statistics insists the current status quo helps prop up many facilities in rural areas. It is very possible that without this support, facilities could slow operations and provide less services to the public or in the extreme shut down outright. The Bush Administration admits the plan will have "a significant economic impact on a substantial number" of health care providers (AP, Freking 2007). It is personally beyond me how a government which claims to want more health services for its citizens would actually do everything in its power to deprive them of those services. Only 200 billion dollars is currently spent on Medicade per year. The Bush Administration alone asked for 200 billion dollars in its initial funding package for Iraq. Cutting the fat could mean cutting out needy Americans.

These policies continue to fight rural Americans who have been getting the short end of the stick for many years. States such as West Virginia that are largely rural have been deprived of federal funding and are hoping for pork from Democratic legislation to beef up federal aid. For those that have attacked so passionately pork barrel spending, they are in a way attacking the federal government for falling short. We must oppose the plan that would cut funding for hospitals, clinics and nursing centers in rural America and send a strong message to the government that we support increased funding to help Americans who really need our support.