Seven and a half million Californians are on MediCal...California's version of Medicaid. This week, anyway. If the Republicans...the new name for the Tea Party...have their way, this week may be all there is.
The Tea-Republicans released their plan to reduce the deficit over the next ten years the other day. Are they going to cut, say, the $30 billion in subsidies to oil companies, who just happen to be making record profits? Or subsidies to corporate farmers in the millions? How about getting our biggest corporations, say, General Electric, to pay SOME taxes in this country at all?
Heaven forefend!
In fact the Tea-Republicans haven't planted even the seed of tax increases for anyone. They would actually cut the top tax rate by a third. And, of course, the Bush tax cuts for the very wealthiest of us will definitely remain in place. No, the Tea-Republicans aren't going to make anybody pay any more taxes. Most especially rich people.
So who pays?
Well, everybody but rich people, as a matter of fact. Because the centerpiece of this plan essentially guts Medicare and does away with Medicaid altogether. Of course the Tea-Republicans haven't entirely lost their minds. Medicare is, after all, the second most popular government program in existence. With the 10% or so they have left they've exempted those over 55 from the Medicare cuts...people most likely to vote...but those under 55 will get vouchers to help them buy insurance on the private market. This despite the fact Medicare is the most efficient health insurance provider in the country...spending only 3% of it's revenue on overhead versus 25-35% for private insurers. (Those private jets are expensive!) In essence, they are privatizing Medicare, as they wanted to privatize Social Security a few years ago. Thus they will "save" Medicare...they want us to believe.
So much for the middle class.
And the poor? The poor get dumped entirely. Because Medicaid is gone. Entirely. So is SCHIP, the health program for poor children. So is any medical coverage for the poor...period. The states will be given block grants to do with...well, pretty much whatever they want.
Republicans...Tea Party or not...hate Medicaid. They hate Medicare and...though for now they're leaving that alone...they hate Social Security. They believe, ideologically, that the poor and the elderly are responsible for their own condition. They don’t work, not because there are no jobs, but because they are lazy. They haven't provided for their own retirements because they're indolent. They should pay for their own medical care and their own retirement and government should provide such no help whatsoever. This is what they truly believe. So why should we be surprised when they act on it?
What do we believe? Who are we as a country? We claim to be a Christian country. The men who formulated this draconian plan claim to be foremost among Christians. And yet what would the founder of the Christian religion think of this plan? Was it not he who commanded us to care for the poor? Was it not he who commanded us to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, care for the sick? Would he lock the doors on the least among us…and throw away the key? Is this what the Prince of Peace taught us?
Who are we? What do we believe? And what are we willing to do about it? Seven and a half million Californians...among millions of other Americans...are waiting to see. Someone Else might be, too.
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