Gov. Scott Walker To Cut Medicaid Without Public Hearings

[cal04]

http://thinkprogress.org/health/2011/06/20/248741/wisconson-governor-scott-walker-to-cut-medicaid-without-public-hearings/

Republicans argue that states are the “laboratories of democracy” that should be charged with developing new, innovative ways for delivering quality health care more efficiently. But that point is far harder to make in the face of Gov. Scott Walker’s (R-WI) effort to shut the public out of a debate about Medicaid cuts and shield legislators from having to weigh in on cutting benefits and services for the neediest Americans:

The new state budget bill grants broader power to Gov. Scott Walker’s administration to remake BadgerCare Plus and other state health programs with little legislative oversight, a situation that worries advocates for the roughly 1 million people covered by those programs.

The major question: how the governor’s Department of Health Services will use that authority as it cuts a projected $466 million in costs from the programs over the next two years.

“We don’t know exactly what will be coming down the pike,” said Bob Jacobson, a spokesman for the Wisconsin Council on Children & Families. “And we don’t know how we can have a voice in those decisions when the Legislature has been taken out of the picture.”


more at link

[Angry Dragon]

1. They should start by eliminating all state money used to

pay elected officials medical insurance ....... the state can no longer afford such a useless expense

[MichiganVote]

2. They aren't human anyway so what do they need healthcare for,,

[midnight]

3. K&R

[secondwind]

4. This SOB needs to be recalled! January 2012 can't come soon enough for our WI friends.

[Kurovski]

5. I'm taking My Guillotine on tour.

What? That's what I call my dancing poodle show.

[elocs]

6. I'm on BadgerCare Plus Core plan for low income adults without children

and I'm anticipating that I will lose my insurance. Ironically, at this time I have to resign for another year and pay a $60 nonrefundable fee when the program may be soon cut.

[jaysunb]

7. Seems like they're try to do as much damage

as possible, before they're reined in. Really sad to witness. :evilfrown:

[Kurovski]

8. Kick.

:kick:

[LucasD]

9. I saw a local reporter interviewing one of the current repukes

I wish I would have wrote the discussion down so I could post the direct
quote, but it went something like:

Reporter: "Do you think that the cuts the republicans are making will hurt their chances for reelection?"
Repuke prick with a smug look on his face: "I think if we lose the next election it'll mean we didn't cut enough."


I almost put my fist through my television.

[AsahinaKimi]

10. Scott Walker ..

Can not be run out of town fast enough. If this was another time, and place, his Castle would be burning...