You should be outraged if you are paying any attention at all!!!

For those of you who follow my views on issues, you will know by now that the
borrowing and spending habits of government at all levels, especially at the
federal level, is a top tier outrage.

I don't think that enough people give tangible examples when they lead with a
statement like that so here goes:

I want to give you a very tangible example of exactly what is wrong.

The federal medicaid program (which largely serves lower income, children,
the aged) is going bankrupt. (As you will note, I didn't use the word poor, because
some medicaid eligibility goes into the middle & even upper-middle class, especially
after the shielding of assets that occurs later in life). In case you do not know
what that is all about or if you have any inclination to go ahead and shield your
own assets I'll be glad to give a referral to a very competent person for doing such
a legal yet iffy thing for a living: Ohio Speaker Armond Budish can be reached
at 216-245-0185. Maybe he'll give me a referral fee?


Medicaid is a state/federal "partnership" in that for every 3 or 4 dollars the state
spends on these programs, the state gets 6 to 7 dollars in return from the federal
government. While there is a general public good in providing these services, the
way the program is structured creates an incentive for states (driven by healthcare
providers and recipients of these services) to spend more under the argument that
if you spend $3 we actually get $7 from the feds to pay for the service/program.
Many people (and I am serious about this) consider this federal drawdown "economic
development". (Yes, people frequently testify to this theory in front of the
legislature).

I am not making this up. Check the record and you will see that it is true. Some
people actually have the gall to call this federal drawdown "economic development."

You can't totally blame the states and healthcare providers for taking this approach.
If you're a provider (hospital, doctor, nursing home, etc.), why not, it is income
to you and the states make them happy while bearing only 1/3 of the actual cost.

There is just one problem: WE CAN'T AFFORD IT! We have an $11.5 trillion national
debt and the federal government is borrowing this money from the Chinese and Middle
East oil barons to pay for these ongoing expenses. If we are going to save the
medicaid program and more importantly our nation, we can't structure Medicaid with
incentives to expand services and spending without paying for it.

I close with this:

Do you know what Ohio's single largest revenue source in the 2011 budget year
will be?

The income tax? Good guess, but NO.

Sales tax? NOPE.

It is the Medicaid drawdown from the federal government ($7,216,682,920).

This is not economic development.

And, please, do not mistake it for a healthcare plan.

Put quite simply, it is the road to disaster.


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