Walker's One Man Death Panel!

The Budget Dispair Bill that Scott Walker attempted to ram through to prevent public scrutiny contains a change to the way Medical Assistance is determined that is every bit the egregious dictatorial power grab that his attack on labor and the middle class is. In fact, this is probably WORSE, because people's health and their very lives are at stake. These are the pro-life, family values folks, right? But hey, don't take my word for it. Below is a dire warning and analysis from a person whose famiily will be directly impacted by Walker's one man death panel and his would be power to change the rules with NO PUBLIC NOTICE and NO PUBLIC HEARINGS!

SPREAD THIS WORD!

Thanks,
Sean

For years, advocates in Wisconsin have been working to make life better -- in some cases, make life possible -- for people with disabilities.

The process has been slow. It has taken years to create the programs and put the funding in place to allow people with disabilities to live a meaningful life in their communities, in their homes, with the healthcare support they need. Bit by bit, but with much further to go, the argument has moved forward: if you don't want to go back to the bad old days of warehousing people in very expensive institutions where lives were unbelievably difficult and generally much shorter, the public needs to step up and provide support.

This successful argument has won us the MA waiver that provides intensive therapy for children with autism.

We've won funding for health care.
For respite care.
For the home modifications that keep people safe and mobile.
For the supports that allow adults with disabilities to live in the community.

On Friday February 11, Governor Scott Walker proposed a so-called "budget repair" bill that will allow him and his appointees to restructure and slash Medical Assistance programs in Wisconsin. If this bill passes, the future slashing will take place...

Without public notice. Without public input.

The budget bill was released on Friday. A public hearing was announced Monday noon to take place on Tuesday at 10am, less than 24 hours notice.

They want the legislature to rubber-stamp this bill with a vote THIS WEEK. (And they claim they have the votes to do it -- though the protests are beginning to make some Republican state senators squirm.)

Very few people even know about the provisions of the bill impacting Medical Assistance.

Some links to news articles backing this up...
Walker budget proposal would impact how health care works in state: http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/govt-and-politics/article_a28507fa-38a7-11e0-a87e-001cc4c002e0.html
Budget repair bill gives Walker free hand to revamp, cut Medicaid programs: http://host.madison.com/ct/news/local/health_med_fit/vital_signs/article_979fd798-385c-11e0-b233-001cc4c03286.html
State attorney said Walker's Medicaid plan raised "potential constitutional issues": http://host.madison.com/ct/news/local/health_med_fit/vital_signs/article_cee543c2-3939-11e0-8619-001cc4c03286.html

The bill also eliminates outright the agency that coordinates my daughter's respite care services, the Wisconsin Quality Home Care Commission. (The cuts in the respite funding itself will surely come later. Without public input or notice.)

Why don't people know about this?

Two major reasons:
1) The bill is loaded with outrages. The one that has been in the headlines, that people know most about, is the proposal to strip most collective-bargaining power from public employees, so that (for starters) the governor can implement a massive cut in take-home pay via drastically-increased employee benefit contributions. [For JoyDad and myself, the loss of income amounts to half our mortgage payment every month, the equivalent of a 150% income-tax hike.] The union-busting, an outrage in and of itself, also sets the stage for immense cuts in public education...
2) The timeline is appallingly, undemocratically short. The advocacy groups have not had time even to properly analyze the Medical

Assistance provisions in the bill, let alone inform the public to get to the hearing and tell their stories. People slept over in the Capitol rotunda in Madison last night. I submitted my written testimony Tuesday morning, but could not stay the whole day awaiting my turn to speak.

As I said in a letter to the editor that was published Tuesday, nobody is arguing that the state has no budget challenges. Some pain will have to be shared. Tax increases will have to be a part of this puzzle.

Governor Walker's approach so far, however, has been to hand over millions of dollars in corporate tax giveaways during a special-session in January this year. In other words, making the hole bigger, creating an "emergency" wher none truly exists.
And the mechanism that allows unfettered cuts to Medical Assistance, without so much as public notice let alone public input, is moving through practically un-noticed.

Scarier still -- the Walker-appointee in charge of the Department of Health Services, which will be responsible for the Medical Assistance revisions, is one Dennis Smith, formerly of the Heritage Foundation, who has argued that states would be better off dropping Medicaid altogether: http://www.heritage.org/Research/Reports/2009/11/Medicaid-Meltdown-Dropping-Medicaid-Could-Save-States-1-Trillion

Spread the word. Call the state legislators, or e-mail them if their phone mailboxes are still jammed full like they were yesterday! Write to your local paper. Hit the streets if you're anywhere near a rally. The Capitol was alive with protest today, what with the Madison schools closed as the teachers go out to advocate for Wisconsin public education -- JoyDad and I support them wholeheartedly.

But if the MA issue continues to fly under the radar, the protests won't get that part of the bill so much as tweaked.

Please help!

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P.S. A little bit of wonky sausage-making detail for those who are interested in such things! According to the balance of powers in the State of Wisconsin, Medical Assistance changes have had to go through a legislative process, either through direct legislation or through administrative rule-making. Both approaches require public hearings.

The budget proposal changes the requirements for the process. Changes would be able to be made via "emergency rule," regulations which could be created by the Department of Health Services under the aforementioned Dennis Smith. Ordinarily, hearings must be held on emergency rules, and then after a specified period of time, the emergency rules must be converted into final rules, with another round of public hearing. However, according to the budget proposal, the new "emergency rules" slashing MA could be passed without hearing by the Joint Finance Committee, simply by the committee declining to take them up.

The JFC is currently 8 Republicans, 4 Democrats. The committee WILL DECLINE to take up any proposed emergency rules that result in MA cuts. So the emergency rules will simply pass into effect in 14 days. No public notice, no public input. The bill also waives the requirement for the emergency rules to be revisited and converted into final rules. No chance for public input and changes there either.

Re-posted with slight updates from the blog, Elvis Sightings by way of the Daily Kos: http://elvis-sightings.blogspot.com/2011/02/wisconsin-attack-on-medical-assistance.html