Goodbye Health Care Goodbye Democracy

The beginning of the end of health care may be here for millions of Americans. America as we know it may be coming to a close. It’s the birth of a new America. A different kind of America.

While a solid, reasonable approach to balancing a national budget would make much more common sense, that’s not what is currently taking place. Conservatives and liberals are eyeballing the idea that Medicaid is on the chopping block. Medicaid gives assistance to the elderly, poor, and the unemployed. Most of whom don’t vote and don’t have lobbying power.

Make no mistake, the euphemisms such as block grants and proposed cuts are equivalent to deep cuts clear across the health community. This approach is to use a bayonet and not a scalpel. This is a foolish mistake.

Government simply has two ways of fixing the budget. One is to raise revenue by increasing taxes in some form or another. No matter how beneficial increasing taxes might be, this isn’t a very popular idea politically. The only other option is to cut spending somewhere.

If programs are going to require deep cuts, politicians will cut programs of folks with the least political friction. Old folks, children, poor, etc. The kind of citizens that usually don’t vote.

Are we willing to toss grandma off a cliff? Because if we choose block grants over Medicaid that is exactly what will happen. Don’t be dissuaded into believing politicians when they say that proposed budget cuts will save the state money. Somebody has to pay and that is a fact.

What they really mean to say is that we have become a nation that no longer cares about its citizens. Care to elaborate on that one?

Whether you call it a block grant or Medicaid cut in half, the results are all the same. Federal money is saved. States will not pick up the tab. It is not conducive for local government to pay medical bills. So the big umbrella of health care goes to citizens that have jobs and can afford it. Those most vulnerable will suffer the most and receive little care or no care at all. Grandma will be shoved off the cliff literally.

When we refer to capping the federal budget, we in effect are eluding to targeting the deficit with deep cuts in health care. That 8% of the federal pie can easily be sliced off with Medicaid and the CHIP program. Sadly, this radical approach does nothing to curb the real problems of skyrocketing health care. But special interests won’t be touched at all.

These are the types of cuts that are so radical that even the elitists themselves can’t predict the total outcomes with any certainty. In a true democracy a decision such as this would not even be an issue. Where’s Paul Revere when you need him?

Automatic enforcement only deepens the confusion and broadens the lack of flexibilty to cope with crucial decision making. Instead of using discretionary measures and weighing out all of the possibilities, automatic enforcement of law only makes it more difficult to combat emergencies that the country will inevitably encounter, sooner or later.

Wait until America gets hit with the next wave of a double mutating virus that leaves the country in shambles. Will that virus discriminate who gets infected and who doesn’t? And where will the funding come from? Good luck with that one…

Medicaid currently plays the role as a reliable safety-net for more than a quarter of American’s seniors and people with disabilities and, with CHIP, nearly one out of three children. If you haven’t read the blogosphere lately, jobless claims are up again. The psychology of this alone is crippling the nation as it is. To threaten the unemployed is a form of terrorism. N’ est-ce pas?

Health care should be the last place to cut spending and not the first. It is not only fiscally irresponsible, it is morally irresponsible. If it’s a duck call it a duck. Do not implore euphimisms to lie to the people and say the budget cuts won’t hurt so much. That’s not true.

What is the price for the security of millions? If that security vanishes, will not the insecurity of the nation rise? What will be the price to pay then? The same price that is being paid in Greece, Spain, Portugal, and other areas proposing these radical approaches? I salute these fine citizens for standing up for themselves.

Here’s a better but even more radical approach. Let’s quit using harsh rhetoric that involves the red and blue. Let’s be real human beings for once and start calling ourselves Americans. If it takes protesting in the streets like in the 60’s, then we need the courage to get it done.

Medicaid is one of the most reliable and efficient programs in government today, although it’s not foolproof at all. If we really wanted to cut costs, it would make sense to go after the fraud that sucks the life out of Medicaid daily. That would be a step in the right direction, and not cut it in half. It’s not a time to be complacent.

Even better, let’s take the path that our brothers and sisters in Iceland have chosen — let’s crowdsource the next constitution. Red, white, blue, true, and use social networking.  Tweet this!

Excuse me for the radical proposal. It sounds too much like freedom. Sorry.