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Let’s review for a moment the progress or lack of progress of the federal budget for the fiscal year 2012. In February of this year, oblivious to the oncoming tsunami of federal bankruptcy, President Obama presented a budget with an embarrassing deficit of 1.5 trillion dollars. This budget would add enormously to our 14 trillion federal debt and would require borrowing about 35 to 40 cents on each dollar spent. This budget, of course, included hundreds of billions of “investments” which are nothing more than transfer payments taking dollars from those who earn it to those who don’t.
House Majority Leader Paul Ryan then submitted the Republican budget in March. It included a plan to at least cut some of the increases in spending, but does nothing to reduce our 14 trillion debt. In fact Ryan’s plan adds to our national debt each year albeit at a reduced rate compared to Obama’s plan.
Ryan’s plan did propose a modest decrease in spending and compared to Obama’s budget would decrease the expected federal spending by some 6 trillion dollars over 10 years. Now keep in mind this would still result in a steady increase to our national debt. The reaction to Ryan’s plan was disgusting and typical of the liberals. They immediately used all the antiquated clichés such as starving the children, killing grandma and firing teachers. Senate leader Harry Reid jumped to the T.V. cameras and declared his wife, his daughters and all the women he knew would be denied health care, cancer and heart attacks would multiply and the world would all but end.
Continuing with the progression of the budget scenario, about a month after Ryan’s plan was submitted Obama releases a new revised budget saying he will reduce his original budget by about 4 trillion over 12 years. An analysis of this revised plan reveals most of this 4 trillion is projected to be saved in the last two years. Come on now, to project budget savings 11 to 12 years out is a farce and should be an unmitigated embarrassment. And why do you suppose Obama thought it necessary to change his budget in less than two months time? The answer, of course, is that Representative Ryan took the leadership on this vital issue and Obama had to do something or lose the ball game in the first inning.
One of the most important components of Ryan’s budget is to convert federal Medicaid funding to a block grant. This common sense move would put some responsibility at the source of the spending – the states, not the federal government.
So guess what happened? Our Governor Beebe and 15 other Democrat governors immediately issued a letter to Congressional leaders saying they strongly oppose this block grant approach. To understand their strong reaction it is necessary to review the current approach on Medicaid funding. Low income states such as Arkansas get as much as four dollars from Washington for each additional dollar they spend. Therefore every time Governor Beebe expands Arkansas’ spending on Medicaid, he is effectively shifting up to 80 percent of the price tag to other states. The same is true for governors who tolerate waste, fraud and abuse. Don’t worry about that, it’s only about 20 percent our money. So what’s really upsetting Beebe and colleagues is that block grants would reduce their ability to shift the cost of their Medicaid programs to taxpayers in other states.
No wonder Beebe is such a lover of Obamacare. If he can get first in line, he won’t have to worry about common sense business procedures to cut Medicaid cost. Why worry about waste and fraud when taxpayers in Georgia, Pennsylvania and other states will pay most of the toll. The fallacy, of course, is when every state takes that position costs do nothing but skyrocket and Medicaid becomes a major reason our country becomes insolvent.
Why don’t Beebe and his cohorts use their time and talent to control the true costs of Medicaid in Arkansas instead of scheming and planning to let the feds pay for our problems? This would be called leadership instead of trying to lead the class in political gamesmanship.
If Governor Beebe would let some of the newly elected Republicans join in, you can bet your life some solutions would emerge other than trying to cozy up to the Obama team. Why not take some of these highly qualified state employees and stage a thorough and detailed review of Medicaid expenditures? The fraud and waste in Medicaid might indeed be surprising. How about working with the 170 man Insurance Commission to help Arkansans purchase insurance from companies in other states who offer bare-bone policies with few or no mandates? This and other suggestions apply to both Medicaid and Medicare.
Some other common sense solutions would be to support and encourage organizations such as the Christian Health Center right here in Heber Springs, promote and assist Arkansans to purchase health saving accounts and even try voucher programs. There must be an attempt to put some responsibility for health care expenditures to the individual, not rely on the assumption that complete health care is a right with only the federal government bearing the cost.
***********************
Miracles do happen. After writing this column I read an article by Scott Walker of The New York Times covering the same subject. Mr. Walker covered almost the identical points with almost the same conclusions. The New York Times? I must have gone wrong somehow.
(Jerry Jackson of Heber Springs writes his “conservative viewpoint” column each Wednesday)
Let’s review for a moment the progress or lack of progress of the federal budget for the fiscal year 2012. In February of this year, oblivious to the oncoming tsunami of federal bankruptcy, President Obama presented a budget with an embarrassing deficit of 1.5 trillion dollars. This budget would add enormously to our 14 trillion federal debt and would require borrowing about 35 to 40 cents on each dollar spent. This budget, of course, included hundreds of billions of “investments” which are nothing more than transfer payments taking dollars from those who earn it to those who don’t.
House Majority Leader Paul Ryan then submitted the Republican budget in March. It included a plan to at least cut some of the increases in spending, but does nothing to reduce our 14 trillion debt. In fact Ryan’s plan adds to our national debt each year albeit at a reduced rate compared to Obama’s plan.
Ryan’s plan did propose a modest decrease in spending and compared to Obama’s budget would decrease the expected federal spending by some 6 trillion dollars over 10 years. Now keep in mind this would still result in a steady increase to our national debt. The reaction to Ryan’s plan was disgusting and typical of the liberals. They immediately used all the antiquated clichés such as starving the children, killing grandma and firing teachers. Senate leader Harry Reid jumped to the T.V. cameras and declared his wife, his daughters and all the women he knew would be denied health care, cancer and heart attacks would multiply and the world would all but end.
Continuing with the progression of the budget scenario, about a month after Ryan’s plan was submitted Obama releases a new revised budget saying he will reduce his original budget by about 4 trillion over 12 years. An analysis of this revised plan reveals most of this 4 trillion is projected to be saved in the last two years. Come on now, to project budget savings 11 to 12 years out is a farce and should be an unmitigated embarrassment. And why do you suppose Obama thought it necessary to change his budget in less than two months time? The answer, of course, is that Representative Ryan took the leadership on this vital issue and Obama had to do something or lose the ball game in the first inning.
One of the most important components of Ryan’s budget is to convert federal Medicaid funding to a block grant. This common sense move would put some responsibility at the source of the spending – the states, not the federal government.
So guess what happened? Our Governor Beebe and 15 other Democrat governors immediately issued a letter to Congressional leaders saying they strongly oppose this block grant approach. To understand their strong reaction it is necessary to review the current approach on Medicaid funding. Low income states such as Arkansas get as much as four dollars from Washington for each additional dollar they spend. Therefore every time Governor Beebe expands Arkansas’ spending on Medicaid, he is effectively shifting up to 80 percent of the price tag to other states. The same is true for governors who tolerate waste, fraud and abuse. Don’t worry about that, it’s only about 20 percent our money. So what’s really upsetting Beebe and colleagues is that block grants would reduce their ability to shift the cost of their Medicaid programs to taxpayers in other states.
No wonder Beebe is such a lover of Obamacare. If he can get first in line, he won’t have to worry about common sense business procedures to cut Medicaid cost. Why worry about waste and fraud when taxpayers in Georgia, Pennsylvania and other states will pay most of the toll. The fallacy, of course, is when every state takes that position costs do nothing but skyrocket and Medicaid becomes a major reason our country becomes insolvent.
Why don’t Beebe and his cohorts use their time and talent to control the true costs of Medicaid in Arkansas instead of scheming and planning to let the feds pay for our problems? This would be called leadership instead of trying to lead the class in political gamesmanship.
If Governor Beebe would let some of the newly elected Republicans join in, you can bet your life some solutions would emerge other than trying to cozy up to the Obama team. Why not take some of these highly qualified state employees and stage a thorough and detailed review of Medicaid expenditures? The fraud and waste in Medicaid might indeed be surprising. How about working with the 170 man Insurance Commission to help Arkansans purchase insurance from companies in other states who offer bare-bone policies with few or no mandates? This and other suggestions apply to both Medicaid and Medicare.
Some other common sense solutions would be to support and encourage organizations such as the Christian Health Center right here in Heber Springs, promote and assist Arkansans to purchase health saving accounts and even try voucher programs. There must be an attempt to put some responsibility for health care expenditures to the individual, not rely on the assumption that complete health care is a right with only the federal government bearing the cost.
***********************
Miracles do happen. After writing this column I read an article by Scott Walker of The New York Times covering the same subject. Mr. Walker covered almost the identical points with almost the same conclusions. The New York Times? I must have gone wrong somehow.
(Jerry Jackson of Heber Springs writes his “conservative viewpoint” column each Wednesday)
