It’s hard to know where to lay the blame on this one. Our Federal elected officials all voted for this boondoggle. Now our state elected officials are doing their part. So maybe we should all just be looking in the mirror.
Let’s make our situation clear. When we elected our Federal clowns back in 2024, they took it upon themselves to solve our problems with the One Big Beautiful Bill. It cut Medicaid funding and instituted work requirements. I will skip over the tax cuts for corporations and the wealthy. The deficit grows.
We here in Idaho, a small, mostly rural state will feel big impacts for healthcare in our small towns. They knew that. So they wedged in a deal. Not unlike the ObamaCare deals to insurance companies. But here we are again.
The “deal” to us rural states was a five-year block grant program. We had to develop plans to improve rural health care within their limits and then sustain this after their money went away in five years. We had three months to come up with proposals. We did. They promised the money. Grants are unsustainable, not unlike our federal debt.
But who will be in charge of this nearly $1B from our deeply indebted federal government?
This caused the Idaho legislature a lot of angst. But they got it done.
I appreciate their angst. Someone drops this boondoggle on you; how do you make it work?
It can’t. So why do they care?
We had a Medicaid program grinding along. The OBBB cut it. This will hurt. Maybe this grant will ease the pain.
Let’s be honest. The goal of Republicans is to get more people off the taxpayer teat. I appreciate that. Social Security, Medicare, now Medicaid, these huge federal programs that cost almost as much as our federal debt service and the defense budget drive our deficit. We should have a better plan.
But a billion dollar grant to ease the pain for Idaho? When our elected representatives don’t even think everybody should have health care? And they will decide how this boondoggle should be spent? It’s worse than a clown show.
It’s stupid. But stupid is as stupid does.
Our country needs to be having the fundamental conversation about healthcare. Do we all deserve it? If we do, how do we pay for it? How do we manage the cost?
My profession has lobbied long and hard that health care should be a private sector decision between the doctor and the patient. This has enriched many doctors. Now it is enriching many private equity firms and insurance corporations.
This Idaho Billion-dollar five-year boondoggle is just a diversion. Our legislators know it. That’s why they fought so bitterly over who held the strings. They couldn’t just come right out and say, Screw You, to the poor, uninsured, part time workers with poor access to health care. They wanted to ease your pain.
For five years. Then what?
I am no fan of the Medicaid program. It was a mess from the start. But Idaho was among the first states to jump on the wagon. Back then, Idaho Republicans believed all people should have access to health care. And the Medicaid program was an answer. That was the old days when we thought we could afford it.
Now, I don’t think most of our elected legislators think all people should have health insurance. They sure take our money for their health insurance. What do you think? Should we all have health insurance like our elected officials?
Does a lousy five-year grant from printed money make you want to vote for them? Maybe that’s what our Washington delegation believed. Maybe they thought throwing this stupid bone our direction would get them another 2 or 6 years. It probably will. Idaho votes Republican.
But they could have taken a stand. Can you imagine Senator Risch taking a stand? I can’t.
Now, it will just be a committee of legislators reviewing the grants, for five years. Making us feel better as the system dissolves, melts.
We need a system. Nurses need to be paid. Doctors need to be paid (less). Healthcare for all should be accessible, affordable, and good. We all deserve it. Aren’t we the richest country in the world?
We could be having a real conversation about how we see our future. Instead we bomb and deport. Shame on us.