Wednesday, January 4, 2012

Medicaid Shortfall Less Than Half Originally Reported, Kids Will Still Pay

State officials have reported that the Medicaid shortfall is less than half of what they had originally estimated. But despite all of the "found" savings, they still plan on throwing 60,000, almost half of the children, under the bus:
A letter released Tuesday to lawmakers from Dennis Smith, secretary of the state Department of Health Services, said the two-year shortfall is now expected to be $232 million. Enrollment is rising slower than expected, and costs per patient are lower, he said.

But "it is important that the department continue to pursue the various savings measures that we included in our September report," when the gap was estimated at $554 million, Smith wrote.

The cuts include higher premiums, changes in eligibility and required shifts to employer insurance for some with state coverage. The changes would cause nearly 65,000 people, nearly half of them children, to leave or be turned away from Medicaid, the nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau said.
So why won't Eagle Scout Walker do the right thing and restore some of the needless cuts? There is a number of possible different answers:

One is that there really never was a deficit and that the planned all along to raid the fund to pay for holes elsewhere in his budget. He's done that before.

Or he could have "found" the savings to make himself look better to his base in the upcoming recall election. He's done that before.

Another possibility is that he needed to come up with some quick cash to dole out to campaign donors to help fund his flailing recall campaign. He's done that before as well.

But no matter the reason, the one thing that is clear is that walker has again abdicated his role as a responsible leader, as a former Eagle Scout, and as a human being.

4 comments:

  1. Walker is a classic sociopath. He has no conscience. He is incapable of empathy. All he cares about is that he personally wins the game, now matter who else has to suffer. If people do suffer as a result of his policies he feels a sense of satisfaction and power. In fact it is his goal to dish out punishment.
    If he could torture people he would. The only people who benefit by having him in Madison are his children in Wauwatosa. To have this mentally diseased man out of their lives for lengthy periods of time must be a great relief.

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  2. I am not sure about all the sociopath claims. I see it as he defines success as saving money. Thus, when he makes cuts to schools, they are called "tools" and they are successful reforms, not because the schools are better, they are cheaper. This is another case where we're supposed to think it is good that they have saved money and still made cuts.

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  3. I should add that since the point of the programs is to help people, not to save money, it is an odd way of defining success.

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  4. Great catch. The past is indeed prologue with that scumbag. I noted your work here and in 2009 on budget shenanigans right over here.

    Keep bringing it.

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