Bush to Cut Medicade and Student Aid from the budget, but - Freeze-Frame Radio

JD The Jazz Doctor · Grand Poobah

Bush to Cut Medicade and Student Aid from the budget, but

Jeremy Riggs · 2011 Super Bowl Champions!

JD,

I noticed you pointed out the percentage increase in the defense budget (5%). I have no problem with that. National Defense is one of only about three areas I think the government should be spending my money to begin with.

But I'm curious, this Medicaid and College spending. You point out it's a $39 billion dollar cut over 5 years, covering two programs, so to simplify it let's say it's about $4 billion per year per program (it would actually be less on average). What percentage of each budget is THAT amount?

Furthermore. Bush said in his State of the Union address, and has said repeatedly he is going to trim programs that don't work. Do you know the details of of where those cuts are coming from? Particuarly in the college one? How do you know he's not cutting grants or funding for parts of the program that are constantly failing?

I'll do some research and see if I can get us some details on this. As they say, the devil is in the details right?

MzHartz · Permanent Vacation

I don't know the details about the Medicaid or College cuts, but after a huge campaign to encourage raising the transplant and organ donation fund, funding for this program in the new budget was actually reduced.

Bone marrow transplants are the newest form of treatment for children with certain forms of cancer, including leukemia. The bone marrow for these kids does not come from a corpse, but instead from a living person. There is also new technology for living donors for organs such as livers and kidneys as well. The only thing limiting these people from getting their transplants is the lack of donors. And our government cuts the funding for these programs. I'm very disappointed.

Jeremy Riggs · 2011 Super Bowl Champions!

Here we go...

2006 Budget Overview

Now mind you, this is the official White House overview, so it's going to be spun just as much as the headline blurb you supplied, but at least it gives better detail.

I'll continue my search

Please keep in mind, I'm not trying to suggest George Bush and the Republican Congress don't make bad choices. There is corruption in both parties and there are too many special interests lobbying to get their part of each budget.

All I'm trying to point out is that the news is generally spin and if we're going to accept it at face value then we're part of the problem.

Jeremy Riggs · 2011 Super Bowl Champions!

Mz,

This is an area you can help me in now. Maybe make me a bit wiser.

How does a bigger federal budget result in you having more people willing to donate their bone marrow?

Is it simply a matter of awareness? And if so how much is necessary to get the word out properly?

PLEASE NOTE: Talking politics is always dangerous. JD & I have done it for four years now and we know we can each accept it and not get angry. I'm NOT trying to be rude or mean with my questions here. I honestly want to have a better understanding of this specific issue.

Pambo · Waiting To Be Widowed

The only thing I know about Medicaid is that my autistic brother is on it & it costs my parents more & more every year to keep him on his meds.

JD The Jazz Doctor · Grand Poobah

the devil is in the details, I agree. I'll do some digging around for the exact specifics too when I have the chance...this will be fun! Really the news snippet articles from major online news sources really just give the overall bottom line facts.

But honestly I was looking, as I do, at the bottom line-

tuition goes up, loans and grants get cut. That few handful of students who otherwise could be doctors now have to work at pizza hut.

you cut medicare, you work towards ending social security, and the elderly, whom we should honor and respect, live in squalor. But we send money off to fight a foreign war to "protect" them.......

MzHartz · Permanent Vacation

Jeremy Riggs wrote:

Mz,

This is an area you can help me in now. Maybe make me a bit wiser.

How does a bigger federal budget result in you having more people willing to donate their bone marrow?

Is it simply a matter of awareness? And if so how much is necessary to get the word out properly?

PLEASE NOTE: Talking politics is always dangerous. JD & I have done it for four years now and we know we can each accept it and not get angry. I'm NOT trying to be rude or mean with my questions here. I honestly want to have a better understanding of this specific issue.

I don't mind JR.

Part of the budget would go for awareness. And we are talking national awareness. I don't have the Transplant News article in front of me right now, so I don't know the exact allocation UNOS (United Network of Organ Sharing) had determined, but this new technology requires an awareness campaign of more than just signing a card and sticking it in your wallet. The other huge chunk of money of course would be to go towards new research. The same research that has cured other kids from leukemia because of the new bone marrow transplant technology.

JD The Jazz Doctor · Grand Poobah

yes- no anger here with my buddy or any disrespect. one of my closest friends. think of it as a couple of guys debating with a couple of beers.

Jeremy Riggs · 2011 Super Bowl Champions!

Ok Mz, thanks for the info.

Pambo, I'm really sorry about your brother. I know very little about that disease I'm afraid.

JD, right, just talk over some beers, unfortunately minus the beers.

Like I said, I know I come off as a truly Hardcore Republican, and on a few issues I won't budge. But for the most part when this stuff comes up I'm just curious how it all plays together and whats really at the root of the decisions.

I mean, it's such a complex puzzle, and it's so hard for any of us not to be hypocritical in the big picture. We all want lower taxes, but we all want more funding. Then the easy thing to do is complain about the things we see as "overfunded", but there's people out there with the same voting rights as us that may see that program as worthy of the funding.

Comparing numbers is so risky too. $200 billion for an area of defense may be the necesarry cost. $100 billion for another program may only be half the amount, but maybe the overall structure is smaller.

When it comes to our military, I have to beleive it NEEDS to be our biggest expense. Even when you're not talking about wartime. Paying our troops, training our troops, and staying two steps ahead in technology is vital to our defense.

Teaching our kids is vital too, but where I part with JD is that I think we MUST offer our children the best possible gradeschool and highschool learning we can. Beyond that the private sector usually finds a way to take care of the children that have excelled.

I don't think we need to make sure every C student has a chance to attend college on my dime. The world needs guys who chance the oil on cars. We wouldn't survive long if all we had was doctors and lawyers.

I just get so frustrated with the spin. With our desire to get our news in a 30 second blurb instead of REALLY trying to understand the details of the story. And as I've gotten older I've realized that you just can't watch FOX or MSNBC or any other news outlet and think you're getting the full story.

JD, that BOTTOM LINE you talk about? I agree! It's all about the bottom line. But I don't think we get it very often. Because the bottom line isn't based solely on the tiny fraction of the budget or defense plan or whatever they may be talking about.

You can only understand the bottom line when you see it in the context of the big picture.

But who has the time

Molly · The Mediator

I think there's a big problem with the way the need is portrayed, because everyone thinks the need is different. We all have different sources to rely on, none of which is actually reliable. From my personal experience, I would think Medicaid in general would need more money. Mz talks about this kids she gets all the time that Medicaid has denied their transplant. That's really the only information I get about Medicaid, so from my limited scope, I would think Medicaid does need more funding.

At the same time, there are a lot of people who would do anything in the name of national defence. I'm just afraid that the money will be used for more offense than defence. But again, the only personal experience I have in that subject is my acquaintance with Mz's husband, who is a veteran from the first Persian Gulf. (I get a lot of my data from Mz. Hm.)

So, as usual, we need more information. To quote Mindy from Animaniacs, and just about any toddler, "But why?" I would like to know why he thought we needed more in one program and less than another.

Jeremy Riggs · 2011 Super Bowl Champions!

I think Mz is in a particularly tough situation, because her cause is only a small part of an overall budget.

She's in competition with so many different disease research projects and such.

My view on the government (and this is ONLY my view), is that it's first concern has to be for the populace as a whole before it deals with individual tragedies. That's not because I don't want my government to care about us as individuals, I just don't think that's something it can do well.

I want to pay as few taxes as possible, and be given national defense, police and fire protection, school for grades 12 and under, and very strict, short-term assistance for people that are in unfortunate situations (such as unemployment, natural disasters, etc).

If we expand it beyond that then there's no limit to what percentage of our income they will eventually need to cover it all.

I would LOVE to see us have a flat tax code that worked like this...

40% goes to defense (I'm just throwing out numbers here, I have no idea what percent would actually be needed)

20% goes to essential services

20% goes to schooling

20% YOU DECIDE where it goes, but it goes to a "cause" of some sort.

I do think we need to take care of our elderly and those Americans that are so sick they can not work. But I'm just not confident that the government can effectively administer such a program on it's own. Regardless of if it's a Democrat or Republican White House.

Jeremy Riggs · 2011 Super Bowl Champions!

By the way Molly, it is a TRUE tragedy if children are dying simply because they are denied funding from Medicaid.

Do you know, does this happen often? (and by often I mean every few months even, not daily, because if we lose three children a year for financial reasons that's DEFINATELY three too many).

Are these transplants they need a reasonably safe bet to extend their lives?

Tell Mz to contact me about this! We don't have a huge audience here, but there's no reason we can't try to help raise awareness among our listeners (we have over 5000 people that have us on preset and check in from time to time).

I'd be willing to have a banner ad and link to her foundation, or even mention it on air occassionally.

Every little bit can help

Molly · The Mediator

Well, if you thik about it, Mz wouldn't be able to get those statistics for you. She only knows about the people who contact her, and when they do, she helps them fill in the spots that medicaid doesn't cover so they do get that transplant, so they do survive. But, I'm sure she can give you some examples of families and children that would've been stuck without their services.

MzHartz · Permanent Vacation

Molly's got a good point there. But, I do have a couple examples.

First, a bit of background: A hospital will not put anyone on the waiting list for an organ unless there is some guarantee of payment. For most patients, insurance or medicaid approval will get them listed. But if they can't get that approval, they have to pay a minimum deposit up front before the hospital will list them.

The first example I have is not a child. He was 21 when he came to us in desperation. Unfortunately, it appears he came too late. His name was Allan Glenn, you can still view his website at Save-Allan.org, and he needed a double lung transplant due to Cystic Fibrosis. In a patient with Cystic Fibrosis, a tar-like fluid will accumulate in the patient's lungs, and if they don't get a double lung transplant, they will suffocate to death. He started fundraising with COTA last September and passed away last November.

The second example is Annabelle Greene, born 12/27/01. At less than a year old, she was diagnosed with a rare disease called Sanfilippo. Most children with this diagnoses do not live to see their 16th birthday. The only treatments available are experimental, after meeting with a specialist, they decided the best treatment for her would be a cord blood transplant. In September of 2003, medicaid in her state denied coverage for the transplant. They appealed several times and were denied. In November of 2003, her family started fundraising with COTA, and in December, she was placed on the transplant waiting list. Annabelle received her life-saving transplant on April 23, 2004, and is doing well. She is only the 12th child in the US to receive this type of transplant.

Okay, I just realized how long this is getting. These are only two examples, but you get the point. There are currently 90,819 waiting for organ transplants in the US, but only 23,520 were transplanted last year, and there are no records of the number of people trying to get on the transplant waiting list. (Data from the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network.

So, yes JR, let's do something! Have your people contact my people. (Okay, neither of us have people, but IM me when you want to talk about this sometime.)

Jeremy Riggs · 2011 Super Bowl Champions!

I will Mz!

Thank you for all the information!

JD The Jazz Doctor · Grand Poobah

Riggs I couldn't agree with you more on the flat tax. I even entirely agree with your percentage breakdown!

JD The Jazz Doctor · Grand Poobah

Mz and Pambo thanks for your input here as well!

Date: Fri Feb 3 15:39 2006

Dang, you had a serious conversation while I worked

Jeremy Riggs · 2011 Super Bowl Champions!

And you were missed!

I knew you'd have some thoughts on everything, but we solved the problem without you

Under our new plan everything is grand

Date: Fri Feb 3 15:42 2006

I would chime in now, but waiting on the bus so we can run back out. This was a great thread!

JD The Jazz Doctor · Grand Poobah

derek · Veteran Member

impeach bush!!!!!

go on conservatives, flame away!

CP · Lord of the Lair

I believe what is truly sad is that we as a people fail to take responsibility. Why does there always have to be someone to blame. What ever happened to stepping up to the plate and taking the pitch, swinging. So, if I miss the ball, was it the fault of the lighting that some oposing fan put in my eyes, the bat manufacturer, the jeering or cheering fans. Why do we have to blame someone. George W is not to blame for what is happening. It is a combination of so many factors, and the true weakness is that the majority of Americans fail to be responsible for their own actions

Those that know me have heard me say before, the choices we make, dictate the life we lead. Sorry to hear that funding was cut for student loans, so you know what, do what I did. WORK. I know what it is like to be poor. I know what it is like to go to bed worrying how I am going to pay the bills, feed my family, so I just got another job, took some risks and started my own business. Lost my house, moved into a mobile home, wept night after night feeling I was a complete failure as a husband, father and a man. There remained only one fact, I was in that position because of the choices I made and got myself out of it because of choices that I made.

May I tell the story this way: A young daughter comes home from a break in school. Her father asks her how things are going, and she rants and raves at the indignation she has for the cuts in government spending, the injustice of student loans and the underfunding of other programs. She rebukes her fathers rebuttles.

Dad asks her, how is your friend Marie doing in school? Just terrible. She is really struggling. She has taken in with the wrong crowd and is doing some partying and her grades are suffering terribly. She is working at it but not really giving it the same effort she used to.

Dad asks. You are still making straigt A's, are you not? She responds in the affirmative.

Dad says, I have a great idea, since you are getting A's and Marie is getting C's and D's why don't we combine your grades so you both have a B average? Daughter screams in protest, that is not fair, I worked hard for those grades, studied and sacrificed while she partied and acted irresponsibly.

Welcome to the world of Republicanism says dad.

Jeremy Riggs · 2011 Super Bowl Champions!

I don't want to stir this whole thing up again, but I just have to say to CP that you and I apparantly were issued the exact same model of brain.

I am a firm beleiver that government should provide essential services and then stay the hell out of our way.

I don't want to live in a nanny state. I want to live and die by my choices because I beleive that is what makes me who I am. There's an old saying that you don't judge a man by his successes, but rather by how he handles his failures. I think those are some of the wisest words I've ever heard.

A perfect government will provide me the things that are ESSENTIAL and be there to help me short term if tragedy befalls me.

It's my job to take care of the rest.

Last year I lost two businesses. One was moderately successful, but the other was very successful. In the seven years previous to that I was doing things I'd never done before. Buying cars with cash. Filling my house with toys like soda machines, popcorn machines and big screen TV's. Every room in the house got new furnitue because for once in my life I wanted "REAL" furniture instead of the Sauder pre-fab stuff.

When the business went to hell it was in large part because of the economy and in large part because of changes out of my control. But I have never taken the blame off myself. I should have seen those changes coming and adapted. I didn't.

Now I run a crappy delivery route making very little cash. I purchase next to nothing other than the essentials. In the last two years I've been through a bankruptcy and a fight with the IRS over tax issues. The two wiped out any savings I had.

SO WHAT!?!

I still have two legs, two arms and a brain. I'll get myself going again and when the business is up and running and I'll be smarter from my mistakes in the past.

I'm not gonna sit and whine about how unfair life is and how the government isn't there to hand me anything. It's NOT THEIR JOB.

By the way, as a self-employed person, when my businesses went under (and it was FAST) I was stuck with NO UNEMPLOYMENT even! Because in Wisconsin self-employed people aren't eligible for it!

I was angry, for about 30 minutes. Then I moved on.

SO ANYWAY, now that I've babbled on and on, my point is CP that you and I DEFINATELY seem to think alike!

JD The Jazz Doctor · Grand Poobah

Hey for what its worth I worked 55-60 hrs a week for a decade to be able to go to part-time school and eat and not rely on loans. which were cut so badly back then I doubt I would have been eligible for any assistance anyhow. Meanwhile tuition doubled over this period of time. Simply math dictates that only the priviledged, the trust-fund babies, or those with ties to a university or those willing to put their education on charge-cards, which the universities GLADLY accept, will be able to affoard a decent college education.

Maybe we in AMerica shouldn't value advanced education anymore, and this problem will be solved.

-- Edited by JD The Jazz Doctor at 09:23, 2006-02-04

Jeremy Riggs · 2011 Super Bowl Champions!

So I don't get it JD.

You did your work. You earned your way. Why are you so adamant about taking my money so other people can go on a grant?

Why not leave it to the private companies who offer tens of thousands of grants to students that ACHEIVE certain criteria in high school?

Where does my responsibility as a taxpayer end? How many causes and services am I to be FORCED to pay for?

I would think you'd feel the same way. Because no one was there to give you a helping hand, and you still got it done.

Jeremy Riggs · 2011 Super Bowl Champions!

You know, look at this a different way.

You didn't need a college degree in the 50's to be successful.

The part of America you hate, CORPORATE America, is the one that demands higher education in order to be a part of their corporate structure.

Why should government funding go to create a better employee for corporate America?

I'll tell you what. You and I have come up with a few points of agreement, this might be another one we could come up with.

Instead of demanding that the average Joe Shmoe gives a higher percentage from his weekly pay he earned working at the service station goes to send kids to college. Let's work on legislation that says companies over a certain size must either offer a program to hire and train less educated management, OR give a certain percent of their profits to college funding.

Could we agree on that?

JD The Jazz Doctor · Grand Poobah

its called empathy, my friend. nobody should have to work that many hours while trying to better themselves and only be able to afford ramen noodles for a week. By bettering themselves, the nation comes out the bigger winner anyhow- more people in the workforce that pays a higher wage for educated workers, the feds and state get more taxes from that higher wage. With a higher wage they can buy more expensive homes and cars and toys. A bigger amount of money being taxed at 5 1/2 sales tax benefits the local government, who would need to rely on state assistance less (snicker.....as if wisconsin could do that even if they wanted to), thereby freeing up more state money to rely less on federal assistance.

Being a loan, it gets repaid with interest. Sounds like a good investment for both the lender and the borrower, except our government is so broke they can't front the money? We are creating a situation where could-be doctors are having instead to pick up a broom and go to work, knocking those who can only push a broom to the street.

Meanwhile University of Wisconsin tuition jumped, what, another 12% this year?

-- Edited by JD The Jazz Doctor at 09:35, 2006-02-04

JD The Jazz Doctor · Grand Poobah

oh and trust me- my dad shelled out $40 on a book on education grants. It was huge, but I simply didn't feel like inventing an item that ran on duracell batteries and then type up a 12 page paper on what it was and why it works just to duke it out with others for the o-so-wonderful 1 time grant of $200 from the wonderful folks at duracell. This example still makes me laugh.......