In his State of the Union address on Tuesday, Mr. Bush plans to recommend a variety of steps to help people obtain health insurance and cope with rising health costs. But the bill, the Deficit Reduction Act, written by Congress over the last year with support from the White House, could reduce coverage and increase the number of uninsured, the budget office said....
Over all, the bill is estimated to save $38.8 billion in the next five years and $99.3 billion from 2006 to 2015, with cuts in student loans, crop subsidies and many other programs, the budget office said. Medicaid and Medicare account for half of the savings, 27 percent and 23 percent over 10 years....
"In response to the new premiums, some beneficiaries would not apply for Medicaid, would leave the program or would become ineligible due to nonpayment," the Congressional Budget Office said in its report, completed Friday night. "C.B.O. estimates that about 45,000 enrollees would lose coverage in fiscal year 2010 and that 65,000 would lose coverage in fiscal year 2015 because of the imposition of premiums. About 60 percent of those losing coverage would be children." ...
"About one-third of those affected would be children, and almost half would be individuals with income below the poverty level," the report said in addressing co-payments for prescription drugs.
New York Times article by Robert Pear
US government spending is out of control so the proposed, and likely to pass, solution is to take benefits away from those who need it most. What kind of fucked up shit is that?! The war is costing us billions of dollars and the poor folk get to suffer for it. It seems to me that the poor are getting poorer, the number of Americans living in poverty keeps rising and few elected officials give a shit. And it's not just a small group of people who will be affected by these changes, it's millions of our most needy citizens who will be driven even deeper below the poverty line. What is the plan? Does the president want more individuals living on the street? Is he trying to force more desperate people into a life of crime just to survive? Does he care about these millions of citizens who will be left with nothing? Of course, how silly of me, I'm thinking like a normal person. Our Holy American Emperor George has never had to decide whether or not to fill his prescritions. He's never experienced the terror of knowing that a car accident could beggar his entire family. He's never had to choose between groceries or inoculations for his children. He's never had to watch helplessly while his loved ones suffered from sickness or injury when nothing could be done about it because he couldn't pay for basic medical care. Goddamn he's such a fucking asshole. And the same goes for most of Congress, motherfuckers. I wish I could be erudite about this but it pisses me off so much I can barely think straight.
