Kodos to the Northwester on Medicade Opinion Piece

Editorial: The real Medicaid crisis
This nation has such a knack for getting sidetracked by one issue to the exclusion of a more important matter.

The issue of distraction is the provision in Medicaid budget cuts enacted by President Bush in February that prevent illegal immigrants from getting benefits. That emotional issue has obscured the real effect of other Medicaid budget cuts that will hurt more, and especially hurt children.

Congressional Budget Office estimates show that 66,000 children will lose coverage after Medicaid premiums increase in 2010 and then again in 2015. The lack of self-honesty in the CBO estimate is disturbing. It doesn't owe up to 66,000 children. It merely refers to "60 percent of those losing coverage (110,000) would be children."

A society should be rated according to what it does for the most vulnerable. The "standard" of ending the basic medical coverage for 66,000 children is a value worth nothing. Our society must be trending downhill quick if we in 2006 can view children – some of whom haven't been born yet – as an acceptable "loss" in our long-term picture.

All of this is why we need to get our public discussion about Medicaid cuts away from the fixation on illegal immigrants. The distraction from the real effects of Medicaid cuts should offend the values of every American. Again, we're a pretty lousy society when we view the poor children in our future as expendable.