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Tax cuts for the rich healthcare shaft for poor { May 24 2003 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://commondreams.org/views03/0524-03.htmhttp://commondreams.org/views03/0524-03.htm
Published on Saturday, May 24, 2003 by the Boulder Daily Camera
Tax Cuts for the Rich, Health-Care Shaft for Poor
by Christopher Brauchli
Money is the seed of money, and the first guinea is sometimes more difficult to acquire than the second million. — Jean Jacques Rousseau
There are so many ways that government can help the poor by giving money to the rich that it boggles the mind. Indeed, one of the underlying theses informing all good Republicans and others who understand how economics work is that the more money government makes available to, and for the benefit of the rich, the better off the poor will be. This is a concept that the dullest among us (the strength of whose numbers and the high placement of their leadership cannot be underestimated) understand and the rest of us simply observe with bemusement.
The tax cut approved this week by the U.S. Senate is just one example of how making the very rich richer will ultimately be of far greater benefit to the poor than it is to the rich. A person whose annual income is in excess of $1 million will scarcely notice a tax savings of $100,000-plus, whereas the resulting jobs will put food on the poor person's plate for the rest of the working person's life.
Cutting taxes was not all the Senate did. It also provided for increased Medicare payments to the doctors and hospitals in rural areas who are, in fact, badly underpaid. The increased payments did not, happily, imperil the tax cut. To avoid that, the Senate reduced Medicare payments for chemotherapy drugs and some equipment such as wheelchairs. In addition, under the Senate proposal Medicare patients will now be charged deductibles and co-payments for laboratory services which up to now have been completely covered by insurance. It is not only the Senate, however, that has proposed elevating the rich on the backs of the poor. Colorado has followed suit.
Colorado Gov. Bill Owens, whose youthful countenance does not conceal a towering intellect, reigns over a state whose financial distress rivals the most impecunious of the other states. He eschews the idea of federal aid to the states.
According to a report in the Wall Street Journal, states are facing budget deficits in excess of $25 billion. Projections show revenues will fall $80 billion short of what is needed by the states. Notwithstanding his own state's desperate needs, Governor Owens has made a name for himself by joining Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and Connecticut Gov. John Roland in preventing the National Governors Association from taking a stand urging the federal government to help out the states. He doesn't think it should.
Instead, he has mimicked President George Bush by taking steps to enable the poor in Colorado to make sacrifices for the rich. This year in Colorado, funding for health care, Medicaid, nurse training, child care, home nursing, prescription drugs, the arts and libraries, among other areas, have seen budgets cut to levels unimaginable even a year ago, yet the governor ensured that the rich would be told of the joys of vacationing in Colorado. The budget of the Colorado Tourism Office was increased by $9 million. The money was taken from a select group of Medicaid recipients — legal immigrants.
In the past, Colorado has offered Medicaid benefits to legal immigrants who have lived in the United States for at least five years. About 7,000 legal immigrants have been receiving benefits. As a result of funding the Tourism Office, about half of those people will be cut off. According to a report on the Jim Lehrer Newshour, one-third of those to be cut off are elderly suffering from illnesses such as cancer, diabetes and Alzheimer's. Another third are children and another thousand are pregnant women. Lorez Meinhold, director of the Colorado Consumer Health Initiative, which advocates for health-care access, says those affected will be unable to afford chemotherapy, prescription drugs, home health care, prenatal services and immunization.
Valentin Soskin and his wife, described in the March 28 Rocky Mountain News, are examples of people who will be affected by the cuts. The Soskins are legal immigrants and have lived in the United States for almost 10 years. Mr. Soskin is a stroke victim who is paralyzed on his left side and is helped by a nurse who delivers eight types of medicine and bathes him weekly. His wife has had four operations for cervical and breast cancer. They have a monthly pension of $1,178, and their medical bills have been paid by Medicaid. That will now change. They will have to pay those bills out of what is left of their monthly incomes after paying $477 for rent and a meal service in their subsidized apartment complex.
The American Civil Liberties Union sued to prevent the cuts, arguing that targeting a specific population, such as legal immigrants, violated the equal-protection clause of the constitution. It said they would suffer irreparable harm if the cuts took effect. A federal judge agreed they might suffer irreparable harm but ruled that the "effects on public interest" of not having a balanced budget were greater. A balanced budget is more important than a human life.
If the Soskins continue paying rent they'll not have money for medical care. Perhaps part of the Tourism Board's advertisement could include pictures of the Soskins and tell prospective visitors that by coming to Colorado they will have a good time skiing and hiking while simultaneously helping out those among the 3,500 who, notwithstanding the lack of medical care, are still alive and living in Colorado. That would show that we in Colorado are concerned about the indigent.
Christopher Brauchli is a Boulder lawyer and and writes a weekly column for the Knight Ridder news service. He can be reached at brauchli.56@post.harvard.edu
Copyright 2003, The Daily Camera
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