It's worth noting, as well, that for the bottom 8 or 9 deciles of earners, Medicaid is the insurance of last resort. After you've sold your house, and moved in with your kids (or your parents) and emptied your savings accounts, Medicaid is where you turn.

Yes, they're trying to take advantage of the recession to kill just about anything that can't shoot on land, fly and shoot, or float and shoot.

I bet Grover's had a chubby in his trousers for at least 5 months.

I predict this proposal will be unbelievably popular. You simply don't grasp the reach of the right-wing media, but here in the heartland people believe in their hearts that everybody is on Medicaid except them. Throwing a bunch of damn freeloaders off the gravy train--which is how they will see this proposal--will be a dream come true.

Yesterday you pointed out that the popularity of ag subsidies among the TPs illustrates that they actually DO like government handouts, just not handouts for people not like them. This is another example.

The nyt has a good Article recently about how Medicaid is really a minimum insurance. Many people cannot get even minimum procedures done because specialists won't take Medicaid patients. In many cases, minor procedures could make a big difference, and help people get back to work, work more, etc.

So imagine what the system would be like with block grants?
why do republicans want to create a permanent class of sick poor people?
And --would block Grants be on a formula, or a year by year congressional appropriation?

Conservatives claim block grants will give states the flexibility they need to make their programs more efficient.

I've said it here before, but it must be repeated again and again. When conservatives say they want something to be "efficient" what they mean is they want it to be profitable. It has nothing to do with benefiting the users of a product or service, it is about the providers making as much money as possible.

Our drug patent system is "efficient" because big pharma companies can charge thousands of dollars for prescription drugs. It has nothing to do with whether the people who need the drugs can get them.

Block grants are a very efficient way for conservatives to move money from the taxpayer to the profit columns of the medical industrial complex.

The Republican philosophy and effect of proposed budget reductions summed up: A Crashed Rolls: There goes this year's  Bush Era tax cuts  Ergo a massive transfer or wealth to the idle rich.

Many Republicans across the country want to Reduce modern worker & health protections by cutting the funding supporting enforcement, eliminate Medicaid, privatize Medicaid, and take away modern banking consumer protections with the intent to go back to the glorious 19th century when large banks controlled the flow of money, monopolies cheated everyone, and wages were so low that a mortified Prince Albert took to designing affordable worker housing.

"Impossible!" you say. I ask you, WHY do they defend the irresponsible spending habits of the over rich, denounce unions, and try to defund modern safety net programs if they do not see that most complex century's philosophy and morality as a model?  Without naming it, by their budget cuts in education they endorse social darwinism. By inventing the myth of American "Exceptionalism" they revive manifest destiny which gives them permission to sneer at cultures they do not understand.

So, I take them at their word.

Now remember, America and the world was never more prosperous than during those times when taxes on the rich were high aka the mid 20th Century and college costs were low.   THE SOLUTION to our problems is to tax the über rich and use the money to build infrastructure paying good wages for good work to good people.

Btw cund.... I didn't really need the image of a Grover norquist stiffy this am ...

Don't forget, Medicaid also pays for grandma to stay in the nursing home. This accounts for about 1/3 of medicaid spending. So while people normally think of it as for the poor, many middle class families rely on it to take care of aging parents without going bankrupt themselves after their parents have spent down all of their assets.

Cue Barak Obama saying that the Republicans "have some good ideas and we will seek to find common ground" in 3 . . . 2 . . .

Are you sure it is just 1/3? I have read numbers much higher closer to 2/3 or 3/4 of all medicaid dollars go to insitutions such as nursing homes.

Bigtuna,
You're right, of course.
Especially on a Monday!
What was I thinking?

One problem for Americans is the loss of their nation's foundational idea: the social compact. Republicans succeeded in tribalizing politics, pitting one group against another, and then reaping the political gain. Caveat: they're not racist. They use racism for political purposes only, not in their private lives. Real racism is wrong; functional racism is okay!

We're at the point now in this nation where it's going to take people dying on the street before we can get back to the basic idea of America.

Ron Byers,
It may be more, I could have it confused,(It could be that 1/3 of medicid recipients are the elderly) but that's what I saw recently. I'll look for it.

As to cutting Medicaid funding for children with special needs, all I can say is "Happy Autism Awareness Month."

Remember, the issue isn't just Medicaid in a vacuum or any specific program we may like. We must capitalize on publicizing that the GOP really doesn't want to cut "entitlements", only the kind they don't like. As we've seen, they have little interest in cutting subsidies, tax loopholes, and effective entitlements like the lower rate for capital gains. We need to hit them hard on that hypocrisy, not just complain that our preferred entitlements should be protected.

One point that's often forgotten in discussions of Medicaid: about a third of the money pays for long-term care for the elderly who have already spent all their savings. Since the Republican party is now largely an organization representing old white folks, cuts to Medicaid may not go over well once people figure out what's going on.

TPDV: The Poor Don't Vote.
(Hence, the attacks on ACORN, unions, New Black Panther Party, et al)

I totally disagree with the idea of turning Medicaid into a Block Grant. But I have to point out the original article shows a complete lack of understanding of block grants. The feds have the power to put any requirements on block grants that they want and they do. The idea is rather than having a number of smaller competitive grants related to say Health Care or Community Development, they have one large formula grant. But the formula grant must be spent on specific purposes and has caps on categories of expenditures. They do give states and municipalities more flexibility but its still quite restrictive.

Paul Ryan has shown that he is not afraid to address the big problems of our country.

Today's Wall Street Journal has the headline of his proposals saving $4 Trillion!

Ryan's solution for Medicaid is fantastic, but it is only 1/4 of the savings he envisions. It is only appropriate and logical to convert Medicaid to a block grant system. That way, we slowly (or not slowly) reduce the amount of federal dollars spent on the program. If states do not want to spend more dollars or want to spend less, they can just tell the poor people to just go away and die.

This approach to Medicaid will serve as a role model for what we can do for Medicare. We have too damn many old parasites leaching off the taxpayers now and letting the poorest ones die will help reduce our Social Security deficits.

Naturally, Ryan's budget will improve the economy and reduce deficits by also reducing taxes on corporations and the wealthy who are the job creators of our country.

Once again, I partially agree with Seve Benen,until he talks about the "expiration" of tax cuts for the wealthy.
the assumption, it seems, that someone making that argument would have is that a tax level is normal, whereas keeping one's income is abnormal.
we need to start with the premise that no government has any inherent God given RIGHT to tax monies. No, it's the people themselves who allow taxes to be taken out of their blood sweat and tears, even if they are wealthy! the assumption that one's wealth naturally belongs to the government is despicably evil, Steve Benen, and does you no good in arguing fiscal cases.
Find a different approach to make the taxation argument, and stop recycling the "TAX CUTS FOR THE WEALTHY" argument.

we need to start with the premise that no government has any inherent God given RIGHT to tax monies.

No we don't, Not unless we're drooling crertins like you.

Do Republican leaders and activists actively hate poor people, or do they consider them so useless as sources of contributions that the Republicans just don't consider them worthy of any funds?

I suspected, from reading a newspaper article about Ryan's plan, that converting Medicaid to block grants was a way of reducing expenditures on the poor.

I've been wondering how long it'll be before some Republican strategist suggests ordaining that only people who are employed or unemployed for less than a year can vote. After all, the poor and long-term unemployed would tend to vote for Democrats.

SRS

Chris,
You tax my patience.
You have no God given right to tax my patience.

"For another, if GOP officials were serious about fiscal responsibility,...."

There are so many, many ways to end that sentence, and all end up providing another example of how GOP is NOT serious about fiscal responsibility.

The Republicans hid the Ryan roadmap leading up to the 2010 elections because they knew it wouldn't be popular. I believe it will not be popular now. The beauty of Ryan's deal is that the Republicans can package it as a done deal. It was their mandate in the 2010 election, after all. And gosh! no one that matters gets hurt, they promise it will save trillions of dollars, and it increases state control. What's not to like about that?

But I remember the slow burn when Bush tried to privatize Social Security back in 2005. I don't think a majority of Americans will be bamboozled for long about this "plan." The only question, really, is how long it takes for the slow-to-learn to catch on. They will be bombarded with a lot of obfuscation and misinformation as Republicans and their corporate backers gear up to ram the "plan" down American throats.

"Block Grant" is Republican for "Death Panel"