Raise taxes? No way! Kill Medicaid? Hell, yeah!

[yallerdawg]

Source: al.com

Budget committee approves cutting Alabama Medicaid by $156 million

The chairman of the Alabama House budget committee proposed a dramatic $156 million cut in funding for the state Medicaid program today after his plan to level-fund it and other key agencies unraveled.

Rep. Steve Clouse, R-Ozark, proposed the Medicaid cuts after the budget committee rejected a cigarette tax increase that was critical to the level-funding plan.

The usually low-key Clouse, animated and clearly frustrated, said he did not support cuts to Medicaid and considers it the foundation of health care in the state. "But evidently there's a lot of legislators that still question Medicaid," Clouse said. "There's a lot of citizens around this state that are still questioning Medicaid and what it does. And we've got a decision to make in this state."

"Are we going to be the first state in the United States of America that finally says, 'We're going to do away with the Medicaid system?

"I don't know, we may make that decision as a citizenry. And it's time that we had that debate."

It would cut the General Fund appropriation for Medicaid from $685 million to $529 million, a 23 percent reduction.

State Health Officer Don Williamson said the cuts would be compounded because state dollars are used to draw down federal money. Williamson said the state would no longer be able to run a Medicaid program that complies with federal requirements. He said that would mean a loss of federal funding, which would end the state program. That could lead to lawsuits and federal court intervention, he said. Without a Medicaid program, Williamson said hospitals and nursing homes would close and doctors would leave the state.

"If Alabama chooses not to have a Medicaid program, you will see an impact on the health care system that you can only begin to imagine," Williamson said.

About 1 million Alabama residents qualify for some level of Medicaid service. The program serves children, low-income pregnant women, the disabled, nursing home residents and others.

On a related note...

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Alabama is the least able state in the nation. We are among the least able to climb stairs, least able to see with glasses, least able to put on our own clothes, least able to run our own errands and least able to think clearly.

Overall, Alabama leads the nation in disability rates, as nearly a third of Alabama residents require some assistance to negotiate basic daily life.