Punishing the Poor

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http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/11/opinion/11HERB.html?th

 

June 11, 2004OP-ED COLUMNIST Punishing the PoorBy BOB HERBERT

 

If you want to see " compassionate " conservatism in action, take a look at

Mississippi, a state that is solidly in the red category (strong for Bush) and

committed to its long tradition of keeping the poor and the unfortunate in as

ragged and miserable a condition as possible.

 

How's this for compassion? Mississippi has approved the deepest cut in Medicaid

eligibility for senior citizens and the disabled that has ever been approved

anywhere in the U.S.

 

The new policy will end Medicaid eligibility for some 65,000 low-income senior

citizens and people with severe disabilities — people like Traci Alsup, a

36-year-old mother of three who was left a quadriplegic after a car accident.

 

The cut in eligibility for seniors and the disabled was the most dramatic

component of a stunning rollback of services in Mississippi's Medicaid program.

The rollback was initiated by the Republican-controlled State Senate and

Mississippi's new governor, Haley Barbour, a former chairman of the national

Republican Party. When he signed the new law on May 26, Mr. Barbour complained

about taxpayers having to " pay for free health care for people who can work and

take care of themselves and just choose not to. "

 

The governor is free to characterize the victims of the cuts as deadbeats if he

wants to. Others have described them as patients suffering from diseases like

cerebral palsy and Alzheimer's, and people incapacitated by diabetes or heart

disease or various forms of paralysis, and individuals struggling with the agony

of schizophrenia or other forms of serious mental illness.

 

The 65,000 seniors and disabled individuals who will lose their Medicaid

eligibility have incomes so low they effectively have no money to pay for their

health care. The new law coldly reduces the maximum income allowed for an

individual to receive Medicaid in Mississippi from an impecunious $12,569 per

year to a beggarly $6,768.

 

Many of the elderly recipients have Medicare coverage, but their Medicare

benefits in most cases will not come close to meeting their overall requirements

— which include huge prescription drug bills, doctor visits and often long-term

care.

 

According to the Mississippi Health Advocacy Program, which is coordinating an

effort to somehow maintain the Medicaid coverage: " The people affected are

low-income retirees now subsisting on Social Security or other pension benefits

and people who have permanent disabilities that prevent them from being able to

work. "

 

Jane Powell, a 75-year-old Jackson resident who fears she will be lopped off the

program, told reporters she has 10 different prescriptions for a variety of

ailments, including heart disease and osteoporosis.

 

She worried aloud that if the law is not changed she might someday be found

" dead in the street. "

 

While Mr. Barbour insists he won't reconsider the matter, a backlash is

developing against the cutbacks, which are extreme even for Mississippi.

 

The Democratic-controlled House opposed the cuts all along but gave in at the

last minute. Democratic leaders insisted they were coerced. Technical aspects of

the state's Medicaid law have to be renewed every year by the Legislature. If

they are not, control of the entire Medicaid program can go to the governor. The

Democrats said they were afraid that under those circumstances Mr. Barbour would

have cut services even more.

 

At the time the bill was signed, the House speaker, Billy McCoy, called it " an

absolute sin on society. "

 

Now, with public clamor growing, the House (including most of the Republican

members) is attempting to have the law reversed.

 

Representative Steve Holland, chairman of the House Public Health and Human

Services Committee, told me this week: " My heart has been broken and crushed and

stomped to pieces over this. I knew this was wrong. "

 

He added, " This governor is my friend, but he's a Republican and his mantra is

to starve this beast of big government in Mississippi. "

 

I asked Mr. Holland if he thought Mississippi had a big government.

 

" Good God, no! " he said.

 

E-mail: bobherb

 

Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company

 

 

 

 

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