Government cutbacks lead to deaths?

A friend forwarded me this article as they knew that I used to live in California and have relatives there. http://www.bilerico.com/2008/05/california_set_to_kill_medical_recipient.php

I am one of those fortunate people to know that my elderly relatives have enough funds to pay for a healthy, positive environment to live in. But many elderly around the US do not quite have the funds to support themselves. And if one is disabled and living on SSDI/SSI, the likely hood is, that you are dependent upon Medicare and Medi-Cal. Those whose lives depend on the care they get in the live-in hospital situation are in danger of being put on the streets if these changes to California law go through. Read more here.

As the article says, this is not just a California problem, it is happening all over the US: "If these deaths start happening, they will not be the first that can be directly traceable to government cutbacks in healthcare. Far from it. As the recession slowly kicked in, budget cuts have been happening at state and federal levels for some years now. The rising death toll has been almost anonymous, out there on the fringes. Among the victims: poor people with AIDS, who started dying when access to ADAP was narrowed. In August 2003, the Charleston Gazette noted that three West Virginians had died since February while waiting for treatment. The state program covered treatment for tuberculosis and pneumonia as well as AIDS. 'People are now starting to die while they're on the waiting list,' the state ADAP director said. 'It's a crisis that will continue.'"

I believe this recession is in part the results of billions of dollars of our country's money being directed to war. As I said in a previous post, I voted for Bush the first time around. When I did that, one reason I voted for him was that talks with my father had convinced me that Republicans were going to get our country's financial situation repaired. No longer millions of dollars in debt, but a country working in the green. Instead we are deeper in the hole than ever, and recession is something our next President is going to have to fight actively so that we do not head into a depression. Something which hasn't happened in most of our lifetimes!

But whether any of my worries surface, the truth is we are dealing with a current medical crisis in this country. Hospitals are closing, patients are being turned away, and it will only negatively impact us all.