Counting the human toll of budget cuts

Senators who oversee health and human services spending slogged through dozens of proposed budget cuts Wednesday, including eliminating the Medically Needy program to about 16,000 people, most of them transplant recipients or victims of catastrophic illnesses as of Nov. 1. (As of that date, only children and pregnant women would be eligible under the program).

"This will eliminate pharmaceutical care for some people, and if they don't have that, they could die," said Tony Carvalho, a lobbyist for Florida's 14 so-called safety net hospitals that provide the highest levels of care to poor people.

Another cut would save $25-million by ending dental and hearing services for adult Medicaid recipients (an estimated 600,000 Florida adults are on Medicaid).

The committee chairman, Sen. Durell Peaden, R-Crestview, emphasized that the cuts are tentative, not final, and subject to some extensive negotiations with the House, but that didn't assuage the concerns.

"We are really destroying a lot of the work that we did over the past few years," said Sen. Nan Rich, D-Weston.

The panel is also considering eliminating 724 full-time jobs in the Department of Children & Families and cutting $8.5-million to Tampa's Johnnie Byrd Alzheimer's research center. 

Comments

If they would pass the Video Lottery Bill they could fill those gaps with ease. Come on policy makers make the right decision and dont hurt hte medicaly needy because you have personal objections to gambling.

The progress Nan Rich describes was the government, in a time of excessive revenue, chaose to be all things to all people. In the meantime, the churches who used to raise money for the medically needy, were no longer needed so they built huge buildings and are now in debt. The state can't pay for it now, and neither can the churches.

The libs did what everything they could to remove the churches in favor of big government, who is now failing them. Eat crap! And by the way, I'm a non-believer.

Get real. Churches do NOT provide transplant patients with the thousands of dollars of medicine they need every month.

The state can cut all they want -- one way or another we will pay for it. If it's not sales taxes paying for it through Tallahassee, it'll be your property taxes paying for it through Broward General or Miami Jackson.

How about eliminating some of the perks and jobs of those in Tallahassee? They don't seem to have any problem funding their pay raises and fantastic benefit programs that are way out of sync with the rest of the professionals out there. Oh yeah, and there's about 300 million available if you eliminate the double and triple dipping loopholes. But we wouldn't want to take anything away from the ones who are taking advantage of this now would we?

"human toll"?

"human toll"??

what the......

whatever does "human toll" mean to the repiglican "leaders" of this state?

"human toll"...only so far as those "humans are expected to fund each and every boondoggle and idiocy of those who have been in charge for the past nearly-ten years.

"human toll"??

what does that mean in terms of serving and being serviced by the repiglicans corporate masters?

NOTHING!!

absolutely NOTHING!!!!

give us all a break!!!!

btw, the following is so profoundly ignorant, it causes one to queston the writer's mental stability:

"In the meantime, the churches who used to raise money for the medically needy, were no longer needed so they built huge buildings and are now in debt. The state can't pay for it now, and neither can the churches.

The libs did what everything they could to remove the churches in favor of big government, who is now failing them"

PROFOUNDLY IGNORANT AND DISTURBING!!