Didn't W talk about the need for addressing the health care crisis

[salin]

during the election? Of course his response was generally malpractice reform.... but if I recall correctly, due to the resonance with the voting population to Kerry's emphasis on the issue - W responded with rhetoric that made it SOUND like it was an issue that HE was concerned about -and by extension would address.

So a scant four months in office and action and rhetoric (building to action to come in the fall) here is what we have:

Cut Medicaid!! "Fraud"!
Mind you - the feds already cut back medicaid after the 2001 tax giveaway to the rich. Many states had to attempt to take on the burden - as care providers cut backs (eg the reimbursement schedule to the doctor's office) required without states taking up the slack that many providers - citing financial hardship would cease to provide care to medicaid recipients. Result - even more red ink in states and some cutbacks, though not as steep as the cuts from the feds would have seen. So, says congress, lets cut it again - this time should do it - this time we should kick those kids off from getting medical care!!

Coming next.... Cut company paid health insurance.
Last night, Bushjr proclaimed that he was going to push for tax reform in the fall... in response to his "commission's report" that he claimed troubled him. Key point in that plan... Cut the tax incentives to companies that provide health insurance benefits. Now, what is that likely to result in, in a time where health costs are escalating and some companies are already cutting back of stopping providing care altogether? Yep, a likely huge swelling in the number of folks without health insurance.

Oh... did we forget to remind ourselves that the repubs in congress (doing Ws bidding) refused to include an exception in the bankruptcy bill for those bankruptcies caused by catastrophic medical expenses?

Folks - no one seems to be talking about this. We need to hold Ws election words up - right next to his and his party's actions on this. Sadly, our public has become so callous that simply declaring the cuts in medicaid as being anti-compassionate and potentially lethal to some, isn't going to get the public's attention. The right has tarred the word "entitlement" and just keeps parrotting it with this. Now - but it together with the actions in the bankruptcy bill and the intended action on "tax reform" that will likely end up with many folks who currently have insurance, losing it... and we get a two fer... wakes people up before the next push (in the fall) so that they clearly watch the behavior of those pushing to do this (and their misleading rhetoric), while bringing the WHOLE picture into view. Oh - and throw in the irony of Ms. Schaivo being kept alive due to medicaid dollars into the mix of the current story.

We are about to have a much greater health care crisis than we currently have - and no one seems to be talking about it. Can we change that?

[liberal N proud]

1. IT was only rhetoric and only in response to Kerry

How many other things did he also say that he has or intends on doing nothing about?

[Mandate My Ass]

2. Bush's ownership society is class warfare pure and simple

His plan, according to Paul Krugman, will actually increase the number of uninsured. It goes right along with all his policies that comfort the already comfortable and further afflict the afflicted. There is a crisis coming, and the working and middle class are going to take a huge hit. With the bankruptcy bill in place, it's probably already too late to shake people out of complacency.

http://www.pnhp.org/news/2004/july/medical_class_warfar.php

Although the 2005 budget presents that new deduction under the heading ”Helping the uninsured,” health savings accounts don’t seem to have much to do with the needs of the families likely to find themselves without health insurance. For one thing, such families need more protection than a plan with a $2,000 deductible provides. Furthermore, the tax advantages of health savings accounts would be small for those families most at risk of losing health insurance, who are overwhelmingly in low tax brackets.

But for people whose income puts them in high tax brackets, these accounts are a very good deal; making the premiums deductible turns them into a great deal. In other words, health savings accounts will offer the already affluent, who don’t have problems getting health insurance, yet another tax shelter. Meanwhile, health savings accounts, in the view of many experts, will actually increase the number of uninsured.

[newportdadde]

3. Here in Missouri we passed Malpractice reform

And my visits are soo much cheaper.....:sarcasm: