Medicaid Schmedicaid

Oh, what a loverly Easter Gift The Boy has given to America's poorest of the poor. The "Deficit Reduction Act." Yes, older, mostly African-American and Native American folks will soon be required to provide things like birth certificates and other documentation just to continue being eligible for Medicaid. Surely, our poor and/or homeless people ALWAYS carry their passports and birth certificates with them wherever they go!

With a heads up from Slate, here's an excerpt from Robert Pear's piece in today's New York Times:

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Under the law, the Deficit Reduction Act, states cannot receive federal Medicaid money unless they verify citizenship by checking documents like passports and birth certificates for people who receive or apply for Medicaid.

In a draft letter providing guidance to state officials, the Bush administration says, "An applicant or recipient who does not cooperate with the requirement to present documentary evidence of citizenship may be denied eligibility or terminated" from Medicaid.

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a liberal research and advocacy group, estimates that three million to five million low-income citizens on Medicaid could find their coverage at risk because they do not have birth certificates or passports.

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full article: Medicaid Hurdle For Immigrants May Hurt Others

Copyright 2006, The New York Times Co. All rights reserved. Used here for contextual purposes only.

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So, now the States and all the hospitals and nursing homes have a brand new layer of paperwork to wade through. And all in the name of "deficit reduction." And THIS is what we call "compassionate conservatism?" Like hell it is! Bush, his buddies, and everyone on Capitol Hill who voted for the damn thing should cancel their government-funded health insurance, sell off their assets until they become eligible for medicaid and medicare, and see how the other half lives...and dies.

Shame on this sham of a government. They deserve to be removed from office, one by one, and the sooner the better. If trying to prevent "illegal aliens" from applying for medicaid you instead put up impossible roadblocks for legal citizens to get the help they need and used to get, our government has shown its ass, and let me tell you, that is one UGLY ass! Pffffffft!