Medicaid cuts enable tax benefits for the wealthy
The New York Times
January 14, 2003
Most States Cutting Back on Medicaid, Survey Finds
By Robert Pear
Two-thirds of the states say they are cutting Medicaid benefits, increasing co-payments, restricting eligibility or removing poor people from the rolls because of soaring costs and plunging revenues.
The Bush administration has opposed any increase in the federal share of Medicaid, saying that the federal government has fiscal problems of its own.
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/01/14/politics/14MEDI.html
Comment: As long as we have a separate health care program for low-income individuals with little political voice, this program will be politically managed and funded as a "welfare program." If we were all in a single, universal health care program, most of us would not tolerate a policy position that seriously underfunds our health care system while reducing taxes for those that will never feel a quality-of-life impact of the tax benefit.
How can a just society adopt policies that further impair access and outcomes for the most vulnerable individuals in our society? Continuing to tolerate this injustice does not speak well for the American ethic.