Medicaid Funding: Robin Hood in Reverse
20 November 2005I like the Coalition on Human Needs. “The Coalition on Human Needs is an alliance of national organizations working together to promote public policies that address the needs of low-income and other vulnerable people.” The Coalition represents passionate, staunch defenders of good public policy. CHN provides a wealth of important public policy commentary and information in a timely manner, and the organization typically combines the call to action with the facts, news, or analysis. Here is part of an important, recent Email Alert released by CHN:
BUDGET BILL SHAME IN U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Early this morning[Friday, November 18, 2005] the House passed a budget bill that slashed food stamps, health care, child support enforcement, and assistance for elderly and disabled people. Today the House plans to vote for new tax breaks for millionaires. These two votes together add up to a spectacle of greed.
The $50 billion budget cuts approved early this morning - by two vote margin - kick people when they’re down and block their opportunities to pick themselves up. If the slim House majority has its way, children, working families, the elderly and disabled will do without food and health care so that those with money and pull can get still more tax breaks. Later today the House may vote to cut capital gains and dividends. More than half of the benefit from this tax break (52%) goes to millionaires! The vast majority goes to people earning more than $200,000.
Are you as outraged as we are?
Call your Representative toll-free at 800-426-8073.*
Tell your House member to vote NO on tax reconciliation!
Yes, we are tired of calling House members and we suspect you’re tired, too. But we are even more angry than tired. Your calls, emails and press events have made a huge difference in this fight. Tell your Representative to reject the tax reconciliation bill!MORE INFORMATION
How did your Representative vote on the budget cuts? (A “no” vote is the right position)
Here are a couple of additional places to go to learn more about medicaid, and to follow the funding struggles for this critical safety net for lower income families, and increasingly, for the middle-income families:
The American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) has a modest but helpful Medicaid website. While you are visiting this site, make sure you check out the selection of email newsletters to help you stay up to date on important public policy issues of particular interest to seniors.
FamiliesUSA, “The Voice for Health Care Consumers,” has an extensive website on Medicaid issues they call the “Medicaid Action Center.” This site has a tremendous amount of information regarding the struggle to save and expand Medicaid, and what can be done to enter into that struggle. See, for example, the site section The 2006 Federal Medicaid Battle: Where We Are Now.
The Kaiser Family Foundation has an excellent comprehensive website devoted to the issue of Medicaid and the related State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP—known in Alaska as Denali KidCare). This site also has extensive information regarding Medicaid issues and statistics in each state, including Alaska.
There are more great web-based resources for Medicaid issues, but this will have to do for now…
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