WI Budget Bill and the Gutting of Medicaid

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Sunday February 20, 2011 · 9:37 PM PST

2011/02/20 · 21:37

Little known and much overlooked in our call to solidarity with Wisconsin public employees is a provision buried in the bill that lays the foundation for gutting Medicaid in the state.

From the Cap Times last Monday:

Over the weekend, public health advocates started raising the alarm, and this afternoon the non-partisan agency in charge of analyzing the controversial bill sent a memo to Democratic Rep. Peter Barca that would seem to confirm complaints that the Medicaid provision, buried deep in the budget-repair bill, would give the Walker administration unprecedented power to revamp the state's BadgerCare programs without following the legislative processes, public vetting, and even state laws normally required.
The memo from the Legislative Fiscal Bureau, a response to Barca's request for a list of non-budget items that Walker has folded into the budget-repair bill, some with far-reaching policy repercussions, focuses on the Medicaid clause as an item "that should be noted" because "while the provision may result in significant savings in the future...it would remove the entire Legislature from determining substantial elements of the medical assistance program."

The provision "could potentially give broad authority to the Department of Health Services, with approval of the Joint Committee on Finance, to signficantly modify the medical assistance program and supersede most statutory provisions regarding the program," LFB director Bob Lang writes in the memo.

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Greenland Glacier Calves Mammoth Iceberg

laderrick

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Thursday August 05, 2010 · 6:22 PM PDT

2010/08/05 · 18:22

Petermann Glacier in northern Greenland has calved a massive iceberg. Cracks in the glacier's floating tongue prompted scientists to install monitors last summer to watch for sections beginning to separate.

Today the sun emerged after a few days of cloudiness that had shrouded the glacier from satellite view, revealing a dramatic break-up.

laderrick

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Tuesday June 15, 2010 · 3:21 PM PDT

2010/06/15 · 15:21

Hilarity ensued after Rick Perry's campaign staff called a press conference today in front of Bill White and the Democratic Party's Austin, Texas office.

Democratic volunteers with signs, one in a chicken suit, gathered around Perry's spokesperson, Mark Miner, chanting "Debate Bill Now!" and "Rick Chicken Perry" as the reporters strained to hear what the sweaty Miner was whining about.

Video courtesy of the Texas Tribune:

laderrick

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Monday November 23, 2009 · 9:35 PM PST

2009/11/23 · 21:35

I am often afraid to tell my story. I desperately need health care reform, but I am painfully aware that few would welcome sharing the bill for my care. Unlike the millions of stories where appropriate preventive care or early treatment would have saved both money and lives, mine is a story of unrelenting, astronomical cost just to keep me going.

For some people, there is a price point on life, and I am beyond it - my treatment costs over $50,000 per month. Others find fault with the drug companies - the cost for the European version of the medication is "only" five or six thousand a month. That's with government subsidy for the blood supply needed, of course. The real cost is much higher, because it's simply very expensive to produce, which is part of the reason there will never be a generic. The other part is that there are fewer than 3000 patients identified in the US with this disorder. You simply can't sustain such an expensive product with so few potential customers.

laderrick

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Saturday September 20, 2008 · 10:12 PM PDT

2008/09/20 · 22:12

I have been reading through the "sign" diaries -- those where kossacks tell desperate tales of their search for swag, and lament the shortage, cost, and implications of the situation.

Today I was part of a team that pulled off an event with zero budget, nearly zero resources, and just a handful of volunteers to start with. In a little over a week, we arranged food, a band, drinks, a great variety of volunteer opportunities to sign up for, celebrity and political speakers, phonebanking, voter registration activities, and a lot more.

We could have looked at it and decided it was an insurmountable task, but instead we took it on as an opportunity, and we made it happen.

laderrick

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Friday March 28, 2008 · 12:38 PM PDT

2008/03/28 · 12:38

My apologies for the short diary, but an earlier one about this has slid off the page and the situation is still in need of attention.

We need help calling delegates to the Texas County Conventions to make sure they all get there. In my first 8 calls just now, I got two live people, and neither of them had gotten any information about when or where their conventions would be!

laderrick

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Sunday March 23, 2008 · 12:58 AM PDT

2008/03/23 · 00:58

The power of a new era of grassroots organizing and fundraising is astounding to me. Is there anyone with the Obama campaign who knows how to reach them to say PUT THIS BACK ON THE FRONT PAGE?

laderrick

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Thursday March 20, 2008 · 8:16 PM PDT

2008/03/20 · 20:16

I have been waiting oh so impatiently to see from whence those inflammatory snippets of Reverend Wright speaking came, and finally there is some video to put it into perspective.

laderrick

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Saturday March 15, 2008 · 11:38 PM PDT

2008/03/15 · 23:38

I think we all want the same thing
...well, besides wanting our own candidate to win, that is.

We want to come out feeling like the process was fair. We want all our voices to be heard. We want our party to have the best possible chance of succeeding in the general election.

It's probably also true that a lot of us are tempted to try to gain an advantage for our candidate as a result of the unusual nature of this primary, but I suspect that most of us wouldn't choose that, because for one thing, it isn't honorable, and for another, it would leave the impression of not having decided things fairly - and that would only perpetuate the ill will and divisiveness that we are experiencing, and possibly sabotage our chances of winning in the general election.

We have a LOT of common ground.

laderrick

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Wednesday March 12, 2008 · 11:15 PM PDT

2008/03/12 · 23:15

I have been baffled and often distressed these past few months over the escalating and apparently deliberate offensiveness of Senator Clinton's campaign. It's has been clear to me that this is part and parcel of their strategy, not just a series of unfortunate blunders, but none of the theories about why they would pursue such a divisive - and in my opinion inexcusably destructive and self-destructive - campaign made sense to me. Until now, that is.

I have been reading Senator Clinton's senior thesis: "There Is Only The Fight...": An Analysis of the Alinsky Model (pdf)

Saul Alinsky was an early, radical community organizer, whose work has, with strikingly different results, influenced both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.

laderrick

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Thursday March 06, 2008 · 11:37 AM PST

2008/03/06 · 11:37

Remember the Donor Bomb and trying to reach 500,000 donors by March 4th?

laderrick

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Tuesday March 04, 2008 · 8:51 PM PST

2008/03/04 · 20:51

I just got back from attending my first caucus ever, and I have to say that it was overwhelming. There were many cars arriving at the polling place (a retirement center), and people walking in from every direction. We very quickly filled the lobbies, lounges, meeting rooms, hallways, and just about every other available space on both the first and second floors, and there were still many people outside. It was clearly a "fire marshal" kind of moment, and alarmed the staff and manager of the center.

There was an attempt to move Clinton supporters to the second floor, and Obama supporters to the ground floor, after which it became clear that we really couldn't safely proceed in that space. Finally, we managed to agree to go outside, taking tables for signing in with us.

I'm not sure exactly how many people were there, but we numbered well over 600. (That's where I stopped counting.) It appeared to me to be about 65% for Obama and 35% for Clinton. We began signing in and were urged to leave unless we really wanted to advance an issue or participate in electing delegates.

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