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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsWell this REALLY SUCKS - and guess who folks are blaming for it ...
Just got off the phone with my elderly aunt (an Obama supporting democrat) that lives up in Illinois.
Recently Governor Quinn (IL-DEMOCRAT) signed into law a huge Medicaid cut
SPRINGFIELD Gov. Pat Quinn put the finishing touch on one of his top spring legislative priorities Thursday by signing legislation plugging a $2.7 billion hole in the states health-care program for the poor, elderly and disabled.
The package Quinn enacted includes a $1-a-pack increase in cigarettes that takes effect June 24th and a $1.6 billion series of cuts to Medicaid programs.
-snip-
The Medicaid cuts include termination of the Illinois Cares Rx prescription drug program for the low-income elderly and disabled and a $15 million-a-year program that provided nursing services to medically fragile children reliant on ventilators so they could remain in their homes rather than being moved full-time into hospitals.
Other Medicaid cuts implemented by Quinn will curtail access to adult dental services, adult eyeglasses and adult foot care, except in cases involving diabetes.
-snip-
http://napervillesun.suntimes.com/business/13180145-420/gov-quinn-signs-medicaid-cuts-cigarette-tax-into-law.html
So, anyway last week while my aunt was in the pharmacy getting her prescriptions filled - she learned that one of her meds is no longer covered because of Governor Quinn. SHE knows that it is Quinn's fault and NOT the fault of President Obama.
She chatted with the pharmacist for a bit and the pharmacist told her that TONS of folks have came in recently and found out that their prescription coverage has been gutted and were all complaining about OBAMA and ObamaCare. The pharmacist said that he has done his darnedest to try to explain to the folks that the cut in funds was due to Governor Quinn and NOT Obama and NOT ObamaCare but even though he has taken the time to explain the details some folks just didn't understand or didn't want to believe him.
Governor Quinn REALLY FUCKED up by cutting prescription/medical funding especially in an election year!!!
Grrrr
Guy Whitey Corngood
(26,481 posts)Zalatix
(8,994 posts)Bluenorthwest
(45,319 posts)They should be out protesting? Wow.
Zalatix
(8,994 posts)The AARP should be able to mobilize able-bodied seniors. As a non-senior I'd be protesting if I were there.
Wow, I'm kinda glad I live in California.
Is there a place to donate to help these folks in Illinois???
Kablooie
(18,571 posts)Everything the Republicans do to damage people's lives and cripple the country is blamed on Obama.
When will people just open their eyes and look at the world right in front of them?
Tx4obama
(36,974 posts)Oh.
UnrepentantLiberal
(11,700 posts)Occulus
(20,599 posts)UnrepentantLiberal
(11,700 posts)Here boy... Come on boy... Good boy.
ieoeja
(9,748 posts)His very first act after getting elected was to increase state income tax 50%. Hardly what you would call a Blue Dog.
But this state was mismanaged into near bunkruptcy by a series of Republican administrations followed by one Democrat who really was a DLC type.
Now the Liberal is left with the mess. Even increasing income taxes 50% is nowhere close to getting us out of the hole the Conservatives created by spending decades borrowing money from the state pension funds instead of funding those pensions. Decades of frozen tax rates while all the other states kept increasing theirs.
SammyWinstonJack
(44,129 posts)coalition_unwilling
(14,180 posts)sabrina 1
(62,325 posts)And it was predicted but we were told to STFU. I have nothing more to say than I already did during that whole debacle, and this is only the beginning of how the poor will be so adversely affected.
Can't even dredge up enough outrage anymore. We were right. I am so tired of being right and being told to shut up. And then seeing the same people who refused to face reality, cry when the predicted shit hits the fan.
We get what we fight for. And there was no fight.
Tx4obama
(36,974 posts)The "Illinois Cares Rx prescription drug program" is a STATE program.
Also, please note the date of the article on the OP link.
Quinn did this before the SCOTUS handed down a ruling on the Medicaid part of the ACA.
sabrina 1
(62,325 posts)But as we all know, that was never even 'on the table', sadly.
Tx4obama
(36,974 posts)And if frogs had wings they wouldn't bump their ass when they jumped.
Bottom line: This is a fuck up by the STATE of Illinois and has NOTHING to do with Obama or ObamaCare.
Have a great week
sabrina 1
(62,325 posts)thing would never happen again. A golden opportunity was lost, and that is the tragic truth.
Sorry, I will not be told we were wrong ever again. We were right. They were wrong, they failed the people and there is no excuse for it. I think I would feel better if people would just stop trying to defend what went on, and simply acknowledge what happened. Then we could just focus on how to do what still needs to be done.
I'm sorry this is happening to your relative. It happened to my MIL a couple of years ago when she fell into the doughnut hole, which she had never heard of before. That too was another disastrous and for some, deadly policy that never should have happened. Yes, it's fixed now supposedly, but not before much profits were made and many lives destroyed by it.
Tx4obama
(36,974 posts)Trying to bash Obama regarding a PO really has nothing to do with the coverage that my aunt lost.
The reason I posted the OP in the first place was because a DEMOCRATIC GOVERNOR should NOT have done this to the elderly right before a presidential election - there are TOO many elderly folks that do not understand that it is Governor Quinn and the State of Illinois that are responsible for this cut and NOT President Obama and NOT ObamaCare.
sabrina 1
(62,325 posts)little control over Corporations anymore. A National HC System would ensure that what is happening to your relative and the elderly in Illinois would never happen. In countries that are humane, which we are clearly not, this would be considered a crime. I know, I have family in Europe who are horrified and shocked at what the American people are willing to put up with. I guess they are like abused spouses, they got used to it and will have to escape and live in a normal situation before the realize just how bad this is.
Not everything is about Obama btw. This was an issue before Obama, and it will continue to be an issue until it is corrected, and hopefully not too many more people will die unnecessarily before that happens.
Ikonoklast
(23,973 posts)With all that spinning you are doing, we can run my entire town on the electricity you will generate.
ODS is finally good for something.
Zalatix
(8,994 posts)Second of all, would you like to show us where sabrina1 attacked President Obama?
If you can't show that, you certainly cannot accuse her of any spin.
Ikonoklast
(23,973 posts)Zalatix
(8,994 posts)Ikonoklast
(23,973 posts)Zalatix
(8,994 posts)If you can't win with facts, baffle with bullshit.
Getting a straight answer to a simple question is like finding an American manufacturing job.
sabrina 1
(62,325 posts)understand?
The US, the only country in the civilized world that allows its citizens to die for profit. Is that plain enough for you? As I said, you have be somewhere where this is unthinkable, as it should be to really understand what pawns we have become, up to and even ignoring that fact, that human beings die in this country because we do not view HC as a human right.
Let me know if you have any trouble understanding that.
Zalatix
(8,994 posts)I guess I'm too sober to see that. Perhaps I need some hair off the dog to help me?
sabrina 1
(62,325 posts)If I had wanted to say something about Obama, you can count on it, I would have done so. It must be hard seeing everything through that suspicious lens and trying to make everything fit with what your dog's nose, or whatever it is that is supposed to sniff these things out, (dogs now to check for 'loyalty'?) is picking up especially when the poor dog's sniffing abilities are so compromised.
But the post actually proved my point. That some Americans are so unaware of what it is like to live in a society where allowing people to die for profit is simply unthinkable that they will defend that horrific fact, or ignore it, or do whatever it takes to defend whatever it is they are trying to defend.
I defend human beings first and foremost, always have and always will, regardless of sniffing dogs or whatever else I am supposed to be intimidated by. And the day the Dem Party states that this is not allowed, is the day it will be the Republican Party. So far, I have not heard that from them. Only on internet boards which is sad enough.
coalition_unwilling
(14,180 posts)needed saying.
We're a rich enough country that if you get sick, you should be able to go to a doctor to get well, irrespective of your finances or employment status. That position has very little to do with Obama but a lot to do with the kind of country we have allowed ourselves to become by contrast and the kind of country we might become in the future.
Occulus
(20,599 posts)Sabrina's post- the one you're responding to- didn't mention Obama.
At all.
SammyWinstonJack
(44,129 posts)prescriptions are now covered only by fifty percent, meaning we can't afford to purchase them.
Not generic and if they were, they wouldn't be covered at all.
So five months into the year and he has to go without the two prescription he needs the most for his COPD, until the end of the year when he is out of the gap.
Medicare Part D sucks!
sabrina 1
(62,325 posts)had some samples when this happened to her and gave them to her to help her out until the coverage kicked in again. Don't know if that is always possible but if he needs the medication, he should be getting it.
dixiegrrrrl
(60,010 posts)I have found your posts to be accurate and timely, and look forward to them.
And I understand how you feel when the gang of "anti's" come along to shout you down.
I hear them a lot on the Fukishima issue, for example.
Keep on keeping on, k?
SammyWinstonJack
(44,129 posts)sabrina 1
(62,325 posts)TreasonousBastard
(43,049 posts)I would hope there are enough people in Illinois making noise about this.
Here's where you get the message out, letters, phone calls, emails, blogs tweets, advertisements... Whatever it takes to make sure everyone in the state hears that the Governor NOT Obama is killing Grandma. Get it out to the radio, newspapers, TV, the sides of buses, bumper stickers, and just don't let up. Get a good slogan and shove it up the governor's ass.
Yeah, make it Aunt Edie, Grannie Bell, Uncle Stanley and don't be nice or subtle. The Governor wants them dead or he would pay for their medicine. We can't save money on poor ol' Granma.
Their message has had too much play and it's about time to fight back.
Fumesucker
(45,851 posts)Don't you try and confuse us with none of your highfalootin' facks neither, we don't cotton to no facks around these here parts stranger, it was that Obamacare what done it, says so clear as day right there in the Bible, preacherman on TV done 'splained it to us about a brazilian times now. Memaw, get me my shootin' iron, I'm a fixin to perforate me some damnyankee carpetbagger soshulest liebrul fanny.
Abra
(45 posts)It was Obamacare that DIDN'T do it.
hedda_foil
(16,368 posts)I just lost Illinois Cares RX. It wasn't a cut to Medicaid. It provided some assistance for Medicare recipients with Part D pharmacy coverage. It was aimed at folks whose income exceeds the federal limits for both Medicaid and a Medicare program called "extra help" that pays for Medicare Part D for folks who earn up to (I believe) 133% of poverty. The Illinois Cares program applied to people who are on Medicare and make between that and 200% of poverty. It was a huge help and I hate losing it because I just hit the Part D gap and I'll wind up paying around $300 more for meds each month.
BUT between Blago and the economy, Quinn has faced a massive budget shortfall with a lot of very hard choices to make by the end of June. This program was great but it didn't hit the poorest of the poor.
Tx4obama
(36,974 posts)I did get a little confused because my aunt is on Medicare and NOT Medicaid - it was the "Illinois Cares RX" that she lost.
She already had one prescription that she wasn't getting filled for her Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) because she was afraid that by buying that one she run into her doughnut hole too soon this year - and now with the "Illinois Cares RX" cutting another of her scripts she is really pissed off at Quinn.
Bluenorthwest
(45,319 posts)We call it a 'doughnut hole' but what it is is society refusing to buy meds for the elderly after a certain point until they pony up some cash and show they are involved. It is hard to think of a more calloused provision in any law and it is one of the things that should have ended at once.
Since they did not have the decency to end it, I say we must stop calling it a pastry. I call it 'The Cut Off Granny's Meds Law'. That's what it is, that's what it does, there is no 'doughnut'
and there is no 'hole' there is just a parsimonious culture telling old folks 'that's enough for you for a while, you greedy old creature'.
The cute language serves those who impose that injustice, it does not serve those who are subjected to that creepy mistreatment of the least among us.
SammyWinstonJack
(44,129 posts)no longer has the two meds he needs for his COPD because the co-pay is now fifty percent and we can't afford that.
Wonder how much the CEO of Humana makes a day.
coalition_unwilling
(14,180 posts)you my sympathy and good wishes.
blkmusclmachine
(16,149 posts)Third Way, neoliberal bluedogs. The putrid, triangulating/bipartisan kind, always erasing whatever differences exist between the DEMs and the GOP. Yes?
libodem
(19,288 posts)surrealAmerican
(11,339 posts)We're facing budget shortfall, just like many other states. He's a bit less willing to sell off public assets and fire unions than some other governors. The legislature won't agree to raise taxes enough to actually cover everything. It sucks, but any of the other things that could have been cut instead would suck too.
limpyhobbler
(8,244 posts)It's a good example of why we need to continue to fight for quality health care for all.
Obamacare is a start but it's not nearly enough.
The most direct way at this point would be medicare for all, I think.
Lionessa
(3,894 posts)If I understand correctly, when the 2014 ACA Medicaid kicks in, the states with the least Medicaid coverage at that time will get the most overall with the new Medicaid being 100% then only down to 90% over 10 years, as opposed to current Medicaid funds which are 50%, iirc.
So yeah, it sucks, but it may not be altogether stupid.
Tx4obama
(36,974 posts)it is ALL of the states that will get 100% funding from the feds at the onset for the 'Medicaid expansion' (at least that is what I heard)
And the "Illinois Cares Rx prescription drug program'' was an extra program from ''MediCARE folks''
In my opinion it WAS STUPID for Quinn to make the cuts in an election year.
Lionessa
(3,894 posts)And you are wrong about the Medicaid expansion. It will pay 100% to start down to 90% in ten years. Additionally that percentage is for the increase from at that time the current Medicaid level. Not all Medicaid. It was all over the evening MSNBC pundits last week or the week before how entirely foolish the Red states want to opt out are with currently crap Medicaid because they would benefit dramatically more than other states due to this.
Tx4obama
(36,974 posts)The recipients covered under the 'expansion' the states get 100% from the feds at the 'onset' - then down the road it deceases.
Edited to add: I said 'all the states', (if the states' legislatures vote to accept the expansion and the states' governors sign the bills) NOT all the Medicaid recipients. Only the new ones that are added under the 'expansion'.
Sharon Merkel
(2 posts)Romulox
(25,960 posts)Heh-heh! The solution, clearly, is for government agents to fine this poor woman for failing to purchase her medications.
We had a chance to change all this of course. We COULD have had single payer. But instead we went with guaranteed profits to insurance companies. And if you are too poor to afford it, no problem! We'll just borrow the money, give it to the insurance companies, and leave our kids with the bill. It's the baby boomer way.
WCGreen
(45,558 posts)They have to cut something in order to balance the budget.
Balancing the budget on the afflicted and down and out people has always been the easiest one to make because no one really cares all that much about the fate of those who are too far out of the main stream for most people to ever have contact or know about those who are the brunt of these cuts...
It's that way if their is a republican or a democrat. It's just the way things happen at the state level,
Now the state will push this down to the county level which will push it down to city level and finally be just pushed out of the concern circles that each political jurisdiction has.
If I was a person of influence, the first thing I would do is quote Jesus via Matthew... 40 The King will reply, Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me. ... http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+25%3A40&version=NIV
Now that is just me, but I never seem to hear any political person who professes to be "religious" bring that particular quote out when campaigning...
It bothers me that a so-called Christian nation would be so cavalier when push comes to shove on how we treat those who cannot help themselves....
It's a sin of biblical proportion and it makes question the very fabric of our "Christian" nation when stuff like this happens.
The odd part about this is I am an Atheist and do not subscribe to any particular religion and yet time after time I find myself as the most compassionate person in many of rooms of over the years, even when they are filled with self-righteous Christians....
democrat_patriot
(2,774 posts)Why are Dems?