Maine Cuts Medicaid

            Some news items just don't seem to get the coverage they deserve. At the very bottom of page 2 in the 8/2/12 edition of the Wall Street Journal was a short piece by Christopher Weaver that really grabbed my attention. In it, Weaver says that the state of Maine has moved to strip about 30,000  Medicaid patients from its state-run health program.

            That is stunning news. It seems that the Supreme Court's June ruling on Medicaid might have released states from the law's ban on striking current Medicaid enrollees. The article suggests that other states have taken notice and are planning similar cuts.
            Why is this big news? Because one of the reasons Medicaid has become such a budget buster is that its rolls are inflated with hundreds of thousands of recipients who shouldn't be there. We're not talking about removing the safety net for children or the indigent. Nobody is arguing for them to be bumped off the rolls. On the other hand, Maine is targeting some people, for example, who earn up to 133% of the poverty line. That's just about $30,000 a year for a family of four. Should the safety net really be meant for them?
            There's more. Under Obamacare, an estimated 30 million people who  claim they can't afford medical insurance would be added to the Medicaid rolls. And that's in addition to the ones already on Medicaid. Remember when  Obama promised that costs wouldn't go up? It's no wonder states are refusing to take them on.
            Maine's move is being challenged, of course, by Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary of Health and Human Services. The nanny of HHS, like her boss, has no interest in seeing a reduction in the number of people who are dependent on the government.
            Heck. Adding another trillion or two to the federal deficit is no problem... Just as long as the people who are happy being slaves to the government continue to vote.