Hidden Agenda: The "Debt Crisis Plan" was to Strike a Blow at the National Social Safety Net

Global Research
Shamus Cooke

The debt crisis has been averted and people across the globe are breathing sighs of relief.

But in the back rooms of the US Congress, politicians are celebrating for a different reason. It's the kind of celebration that erupts when a group executes a complicated plan to perfection. The objective in this case was to strike the first blows against the national social safety net without encountering massive resistance. Mission half-accomplished thus far. 

Half accomplished because only half of the $2.5 billion in cuts have been decided on. The other half will be sent to a bi-partisan committee where, according to the White House Fact Sheet:

"... the committee will consider responsible entitlement [Social Security and Medicare] and tax reform [cuts to entitlement programs]. This means putting all the priorities of both parties on the table – including both entitlement reform [Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid] and revenue-raising tax reform.” 

If the committee fails to agree on the cuts, they would be automatically triggered, and Medicare would be the target: "...any cuts to Medicare would be capped and limited to the provider side." This means that fewer doctors would accept Medicare patients or they would provide fewer services to Medicare beneficiaries. 

When it comes to cutting Social Security and Medicare, the Democrats are Republicans are only trying to get their foot into the door. Nevertheless, the potential cuts will have a massive impact on the millions of Americans who depend on these vital services. And if these cuts are allowed to happen unopposed, the possibility of future, more dramatic cuts is certain. 

Equally bad is that the budget deal makes the unemployment situation even worse. In writing about the effect the cuts would have on employment, a Moody’s analyst predicted that:

"The deal announced last night calls for a yearly average of $240 billion in cuts over the next decade. Very roughly, that suggests the new plan would cost around 1.6 million jobs per year during that time. [!]" (August 1st, 2011).

This noxious level of contempt for working people was the product of a manufactured crisis, with Democrats and Republicans playing along. How did Obama and the Democrats essentially push through the long-term objectives of the Republican Party? Author Michael Hudson explains on Democracy Now: 

"... There has to be a crisis. Now, in reality, there is no crisis at all. In reality, raising the debt ceiling has been done for a hundred years automatically. There is no connection between raising the debt ceiling and arguing over tax policy. Tax policy takes many years to work out. All of a sudden, Mr. Obama is going along with the charade of saying, "Wait a minute, let’s create a crisis."... And Wall Street doesn’t like real crises, so there’s an artificial non-crisis that Obama is treating as a crisis so that he can put forth the recommendations of the Deficit Reduction Commission to get rid of Social Security that he has supported all along." (July 22nd, 2011). 

Thus, it's not true that Obama was "held hostage" by the Republicans. If he told the country only half of what Mr. Hudson explained on Democracy Now, the Republicans would have folded instantly. If Obama would have told the country that the Republicans wanted massive cuts to Social Security and Medicare, instead of purposely hiding these issues, Republican voters would have converged on Capitol Hill with torches and pitchforks. Instead, Obama went along with the charade; because in order for it to succeed, he was required to play a leading role in the drama. 

Liberal groups and the major labor federations -- AFL-CIO and Change to Win -- have given a left cover to Obama's far-right policies, wrongly blaming only the Republicans every step of the way. But this willful blindness has its limits. These groups intend to "get out the vote" for Obama in 2012 while ignoring all the damage he's done to working families, while they also ignore all the promises Obama made to them and didn't keep last time. 

The rank-and-file members of labor unions and liberal groups are among the million of Americans suffering under Obama's economic policies and will not follow their leaders like lemmings over the cliff for Obama's next presidential run. There will be a profound lack of rank-and-file volunteers to campaign for Obama, even as labor union leaders throw away their members’ dues money for the campaign. And because fewer members will campaign for Obama, he will feel less inclined to reward them after (or if) he wins. Instead, he'll again reward Wall Street, meaning, he'll continue to take from working people and give to the rich, further exacerbating the problem. 

Low-income Arizona adults at risk of losing Medicaid

AZCentral
Mary K. Reinhart

Brian Riess didn't know his Medicaid coverage had lapsed until he was in crisis.

The reapplication process began at a Mesa detox center, and Riess was in line before the state Department of Economic Security office opened Friday to submit the rest of his paperwork and get back on the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System.

"With this economy," Riess said, "people need help."

State officials are banking on thousands of low-income Arizonans losing their health coverage to help balance the budget for the coming fiscal year.

The stakes have never been higher for more than 220,000 childless adults on the state's Medicaid program. Unless a pending lawsuit or federal intervention prevents an enrollment freeze July 1, once people like Riess fall off the rolls they will no longer be able to get back on, regardless of their income or medical condition.

AHCCCS estimates that 100,000 people will lose coverage in fiscal 2012 if enrollment is capped, saving the state $190 million.

Health advocates say those most at risk are the homeless, mentally ill, those who move frequently and people with sporadic employment who may have become accustomed to "churning" off and on AHCCCS.

"For a lot of this population, they are in survival mode," said Tara McCollum Plese of the Arizona Association of Community Health Centers. "They're basically living paycheck to paycheck, trying to figure out how to get the next meal on the table and pay the rent."

They may only discover that their AHCCCS coverage has lapsed when they become ill or hospitalized, she said.

The health centers have teamed with Keogh Health Connection and several community groups to launch "Don't Get Dropped," a campaign to change long-standing behavior and remind people on AHCCCS and those who work with them to stay enrolled.

Allen Gjersvig, executive director of Keogh, said his agency also is working to get as many people as possible signed up for AHCCCS before the July 1 freeze. During a recent effort at the downtown Phoenix Human Services Campus, volunteers helped 70 people complete AHCCCS applications, roughly half of them renewals.

"We're about helping people get on and stay on," Gjersvig said of Keogh, which was founded in 2003 by former Phoenix CFO Kevin Keogh and his wife, Karlene. "A $4 prescription is a lot more cost effective than an emergency-room visit."

For years, thousands of people each month - sometimes tens of thousands - have churned off and on AHCCCS, which now provides health care for more than 1.3 million Arizonans.

The enrollment freeze is the centerpiece of Gov. Jan Brewer's proposal to cut about $500 million from the state's Medicaid program in fiscal 2012. Her plan also caps enrollment for parents earning above 75 percent of the federal poverty level, effective Oct. 1, which affects about 60,000 parents and would save an estimated $17 million the first year.

The state still needs permission from the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to freeze the two programs. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius has said Brewer can eliminate coverage for these groups without losing federal matching funds because it goes beyond Medicaid requirements. Although federal officials have been tight-lipped, health advocates are assuming that the cuts will win approval.

But the enrollment caps are being challenged in court. In a special action filed last month with the Arizona Supreme Court, three public-interest groups argue the proposed cuts violate the will of the voters and the state Constitution. In 2000, Arizona voters agreed to provide health coverage to everyone earning less than the federal poverty level, which is now $10,890.

Attorneys say they plan to file another action with the state high court or in Superior Court in the next few weeks in hopes of halting the freeze before July 1.

Brewer's plan also would impose mandatory co-payments and fees, limit benefits and further reduce reimbursement rates for health-care providers.

The first reductions took effect May 1, when the state stopped accepting enrollment in the medical-expense deduction program, which temporarily covers medical bills for people who suffer costly health emergencies. Federal officials approved the phase-out, and the program will be eliminated entirely Oct. 1.

Medicaid Cuts Could Doom AZ Transplant Patients

Tiffany Tate:  Sentenced to die.

Note:  Two Patients have already died.  AZ State Legislature cut their funding and Jan Brewer approved the cut.  See our previous article about AZ media and Jan Brewer's successful election.

(CBS)  It's not just the federal government that's having money trouble these days. Forty-eight states cut their Medicaid budgets this year. And in Arizona, the fear is that pressure to save money could cost lives, reports CBS News correspondent Ben Tracy.

Tiffany Tate always thought of herself as a jock. She was the point guard on her high school basketball team. They won the state title twice. Now Tate can barely breathe. She's 27.

The cystic fibrosis she was born with has killed off 75 percent of her lungs. In April the state sent her a letter. She made the list for a double lung transplant.

"I felt so good about getting my transplant and I was excited and I was planning for it," says Tate.

Four months later she got a different letter. Tate reads from it, "You cannot get this service because state law eliminated this type of transplant."

When asked how she felt when received that letter, Tate says, "Crushed." She tears up. "I'm scared to know that I won't get it and if I don't get it, I'm going to die."

As of October, Arizona's version of Medicaid no longer pays for certain organ transplants for low income patients. They cost more than $200,000 and the state says too often they aren't successful. The cuts will save Arizona $1.4 million, one-tenth of one percent of its $825 million budget deficit.

"The state has only so much money and we can only provide so many optional kinds of care," says Gov. Jan Brewer (R).

Tuesday state Democrats rallied with patients who have been kicked off the transplant list. They accuse the governor and Republican legislature - who passed the cuts - of creating a death panel.

When asked if it's hyperbole to say "You're killing people," State Rep. Chad Campbell (D) says, "No, not at all. These people are not going to get the organs they need. That is a fact."

Ninety-eight people who were waiting for transplants will not get them unless they pay for it themselves. Francisco Felix was already prepped for his liver transplant surgery when doctors told the 32-year-old father of four they couldn't do it unless he had $200,000.

Now some top Republicans in Arizona say there were given bad information by the State's Medicaid office and that some of these transplants may be more effective than they were led to believe. Bottom line: This has become so controversial the legislature plans to reconsider the issue in January.

Tiffany Tate still has hope. "I'm going to fight until I take my last breath," she says.

Even if the fight gets tougher every day.