medicaid

Maybe if these Alzheimer's victims joined ALEC they'd get more sympathy:

"I think it's very time-sensitive," Rep. Nelson Dollar, one of the bill's sponsors, said Wednesday – one day before the money Perdue provided can no longer be accessed..."It's an issue that we'll deal with as we go forward," Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger said. "I just don't know that what you're dealing with at this point is the kind of problem and scope of problem that seems to be described by some folks."

While Berger's reticence may be confusing to some, any farmer can tell you what's going on. It's called a pecking order, and it appears Phil Berger is using the mentally ill to teach a lesson to his House colleagues- "I'll decide what's a priority around here, not you."

Skin cancer sucks, even in its mildest early stages. Between doctor visits, ointments, creams and cutting, there's nothing to like about it except for the fact that it's not brain or liver cancer. But you know what would suck even more? Skin cancer with no insurance.

I've been lucky. I was able to see a doctor early and often, staying ahead of the disease. Without insurance, I might be well my way to dead right now.

More than 1.5 million adults in North Carolina have no health insurance. With an incidence rate of 30% for skin cancer, that means more than 450,000 uninsured citizens would be diagnosed if they somehow managed to see a doctor. But they won't see a doctor. They can't afford to.

If you work for an organization, you can get the organization to sign on to the ever-growing letter urging Governor McCrory to expand Medicaid under Obamacare to allow people making under $15,000 a year in income to get health coverage.

Today our friends at Action NC have a petition for individuals to sign too urging the Governor to act on this commonsense change, paid for entirely by the federal government for the first three years (the feds pay 90% of the costs into the future).

500,000 of our fellow citizens are counting on NC to let them get quality health care for the first time on January 1, 2014. Let's help.

How can you tell when he's lying? His mouth is moving:

Burr: We'll Talk Taxes If Democrats Ease Entitlement Stance

Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC) told WFMY News 2 he'd be willing to discuss tax increases for the wealthiest Americans if Democrats are willing to make cuts to "entitlement" programs such as Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.

This non-offer offer is probably in response to some negative exposure he's going to get today:

More chaff for the budget-cutters:

On Jan. 1, thousands of disabled people in group or adult care homes will no longer qualify for the services through Medicaid because the state considers them functional enough to live without them.

What a mess. Like many issues, this one could have been solved by allocating more resources through the Legislature. Oh, that's right. I forgot.

Let's be blunt. Access to health care saves lives. Loss of health care costs lives. The Ryan-Romney budget would cut as many as 30 million Americans off Medicaid--which, by definition, is the health care program available to people who can't afford any other coverage. Analysis of Medicaid coverage's effectiveness in saving lives shows that this would cost about 170,000 lives a year. Put it this way: The Ryan-Romney health care cuts could result in more additional American deaths every year than we've lost in every war since WWII combined.

Shocking? Yes, but you don't have to take my word for it. Here are my sources. Crunch the numbers yourself.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/wp/2012/07/26/how-to-save...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/wp/2012/08/13/paul-ryans-...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_military_casualties_of_war

Monstrously immoral? That's my opinion.

See a very brief AP report at WRAL.com about a ruling on Thursday by a federal judge in NC on a Medicaid waiver dispute between PBH in Cabarrus County and three disability advocacy groups.

The lead in the WRAL story names five counties that would be directly affected, but in fact all counties in the state will eventually be impacted, if the judge rules on the case in favor of the advocacy groups. The three advocacy groups' attorneys are representing PBH clients in that Local Management Entity's(LME's)area.

I have been told by candidates for state and local office not to talk about DHHS and the needs of folks with disabilities. The prevailing attitude is that this is not a popular topic with voters, and certainly not nearly as popular as education issues.

However, the unholy mess that NC DHHS has created deserves our attention, particularly now in election season.

Proving once again that he will say anything, however ironic, to score political points:

Now is not the time to raise taxes - especially on single moms, senior citizens and the unemployed.

I think we should create a new category of political propaganda, let's call it "parading your victims", in which you use people you've already abused yourself in an effort to generate sympathy. We'll start with the senior citizens:

I know, I know -- what else is new? But for the love of god, I do not understand why people don't just rake these blatant hypocrites over the coals: apparently, cutting Medicaid costs is only good when it hurts poor people. If it's profiting your donors and the interests behind your favorite mega-lobbyists, well then, let the Medicaid dollars rain down. Here's an article from the NY Times explaining how the GOP hopes to give special exemptions to their doctor friends so that they can rake in the Medicaid dollars:

http://nyti.ms/w06scK

------------------------------------------------------------
Original Message Rep. Verla Insko (D-Orange Co.) replied to from Rep. Nelson Dollar (R-Wake Co.)

From: Rep. Nelson Dollar
Sent: Wednesday, December 07, 2011 11:33 PM
To: Martha Brock; lauriecoker; Rep. Verla Insko
Cc: Mary Annecelli; Emma Thorne; Bonnie Jo Schell; Chris Fitzsimon
Subject: RE: Collaborative letter for LOC and for local legislators

There have been no additional cuts or reductions to the Medicaid budget. Reports and speculation flying around this week are incorrect.