The high temp in St. Louis is going to be 84 degrees today…
…and I’m so happy I would cry if I were the crying type (wink).
Anyhoo…
I’ve been reading a lot about the GOP’s fetish dujour – cutting entitlement programs. By entitlement programs they mean Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security.
My experience with Medicaid, Medicare, and Social Security is through deductions from my paychecks and being a co-guardian for my older autistic brother.
Contrary to conservative belief, people aren’t getting over through entitlement programs.
Older people, poor people, and the disabled (or any combination of those) having access to health care, housing, and food is the very definition of good policy…
…but these programs do not result in recipients living the high life.
In my family we pick up the slack of what isn’t covered as best we can, but it is a struggle.
That’s right…everything isn’t covered!
Gasp.
As a matter of fact, Missouri suffers from a balanced budget problem that typically impacts the Department of Mental Health and social programs first (surprise, surprise).
For every cut there is a scramble to stop the bleeding.
Missouri Medicaid recipients no long have dental coverage?
We have to find a way to pay for dental cleanings including behavioral modification.
Food assistance hasn’t seen an increase in over a decade…and, to keep it real, that assistance comes to a total of $160 per month for an adult man (steak & lobster…not on the menu).
And so on and so forth.
As things currently stand, we get by.
Millions of families are in the same boat.
Cut anything…and the delicate balance that is life will go to shit and I mean fast.
That’s the truth.
The lie about entitlement programs is that they aren’t necessary…that the people who receive benefits are lazy freeloaders getting over on the government…and that those people are single individuals who aren’t part of family units who will also be impacted by a decrease in or the elimination of benefits.
The truth is that my 41 year old autistic brother is a Medicaid recipient…a Medicare recipient…he gets food assistance…and he gets Social Security.
Our father served this nation in the Air Force and worked until the day he died – you bet your ass his son is entitled to receive the benefits our father never had the opportunity to apply for.
The truth is cuts bleed…multiple cuts bleed heavy as hell…and cuts will not get us out of the current financial debacle.
They will weaken us.
Cuts will make our family tighten up…spend less…take even fewer risks, lest our bother be forced to suffer or go hungry.
Cuts stimulate fear and panic, not the economy.Trust me…I’ve been through more than one round of them already.
Pause…consider…continue.
That reminds me that I’ve also heard a lot about shared sacrifice...
…but proof of “shared sacrifice” is as elusive as a fucking jackalope.
Blink.
2 comments:
are you serious that Missouri Medicaid doesn't have any dental coverage.. that awful... they should cover that too right.... :-( with he current economic condition, life would be way harder.........
This is the only policy that might actually have been named correctly, yet they still think they can take it away. Most people have paid into the system and are entitled to their benefits when it is time. And those like your brother whose father served and worked is entitled. I think we citizens and tax payers need to sue the government for the things that we want and have paid into. It is our money not theirs. For instance, they are not entitled to steal it and give it to their buddies in the military. They are not entitled to our money to give to their corporate buddies. I don't think Medicaid or Medicare should ever be cut.
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