Another Very Bad Idea

George W. Bush, chewing his cud and tweaking out on lame duck, will soon walk around and talk about the budget that his cronies drew up. Not content with keeping more children from getting health care, the administration now wants to make sure old people and kids get even less:

“MEDICARE AND MEDICAID: The programs will see almost $200 billion in cuts over the next five years, about three times the savings proposed last year but rejected by Congress. Much of the savings would come from freezing reimbursement rates for most health care providers for three years and from cutting payments to hospitals serving large numbers of the uninsured poor.”

These guys are just unbelievable. They’re going to end any incentive for private providers to help poorer people. This will leave only underfunded non-profit and public health centers willing to wade through the red tape to get substandard reimbursement.

Remember that North Carolina is already 50th in the nation in per capita mental health spending. Imagine what could happen if we piled a huge budget cut on top of years of neglect. Here’s hoping Heath Shuler and Congressional Democrats look towards a coming future of universally affordable health care for every American rather than mistaking Bush’s limp duck for a raptor.