Reply #22: Again [View All]

[Nicholas_J]

The home health care professional seem to not agree with what Dean DID, which did not match what he did. Read it again:


These cuts would save about $27 million, $11 million in state money. Few advocates for the elderly are happy with the budget and have vowed to restore the money lost to these programs. A coalition of over a dozen advocacy groups held a rally and press conference at the Capitol building to denounce the budget cuts.

http://vnavt.com/vahhavoicewinter2002.htm

This is documentation from the Vermont Assembly of Home Health Agencies.

What do they say...That FEW ADVOCATES FOR THE ELDERLY are happy with what Dean was actually DOING to the budget to these programs. and were holding a rally to DENOUNCE, Deans actions.


Talk is cheap, and Deans "TESTIMONY" just talk.

Doing is a different thing. Thats what it is really all about.

The real problem with Dean,as I often have said and often repeat, is WHO he chooses to cut, and what programs he chooses to axe when the pressure is on. His behavior towards health care programs and programs to the disabled, blind and elderly when the heat was on is what is most revealing of Deans character.

He did not choose to follow the route of controlling cost though cutting deals with large pharmaceutical companies, or get costs of administration through large insurance companies down but instead:

Medicaid cuts will affect thousands of Vermonters


In an effort to curb costs in a rapidly expanding part of the social services budget, Dean is proposing to require many people who got coverage under his expansions of Medicaid programs to pay for a greater share of their health care.

Medicaid is the state-run program that uses both state and federal money to provide benefits to the poor and disabled. Over the past several years Dean has expanded the programs by allowing participation by Vermonters with incomes higher than the federal guidelines.

Under the proposed budget, about 3,200 elderly or disabled Vermonters who get half the cost of long-term drugs paid for under a program called VScript Expanded would see their benefits disappear. This would save the state nearly $2.5 million. A single Vermonter with an annual income up to $19,332 is currently eligible.

Dean’s plan would also lower the amount the state pays to hospitals for treating Medicaid patients, rolling back an effort by the Legislature last year to beef up the reimbursement level and reduce “cost-shifting.”

That’s what occurs when the state and federal government don’t pay enough to hospitals and doctors to cover the cost of treating patients on Medicaid and Medicare, the health care program for the elderly. Doctors and hospitals must then charge more to patients with insurance coverage, driving up insurance costs.


http://timesargus.com/Legislature/Story/41169.html

AND:


Senate adds money to budget, angers Dean
May 9, 2002

By ROSS SNEYD The Associated Press

MONTPELIER — Senators passed a 2003 state budget Wednesday that the governor made clear he would veto if it ever reached his desk

Even the governor’s closest allies in the Senate ignored him. Sen. Nancy Chard, D-Windham, recommended restoring $440,000 to one of the pharmaceutical assistance programs and the Senate voted 22-7 to go along with her.

“I’ve become convinced that we have a philosophical difference between the governor, the Republican House and this Senate,” said Senate President Pro Tempore Peter Shumlin, D-Windham.

“The governor and the Republican House want to balance this budget on the backs of our most vulnerable Vermonters. The Senate wants to balance this budget on the backs of the pharmaceutical companies who are charging too much for drugs.”

http://timesargus.com/Legislature/Story/46513.html

Lets get real...what did he do, what did he try to do. I am not much interested in campaign gimmicks or testomoy or talk in order to get votes.

I am interested in what he did, and the choices he made when the going got tough.


Lets see what did Dean choose...balance the budget on the backs of the most vulnerable.

The governor and WHO, wanted to do this...not the Democrats, but the REPUBLICAN HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.