Current mood:	cynical
Current music:	Tears of Stone, The Chieftains

In other news......
The Senate failed to pass the Federal Marriage Amendment. I don't get what all the hooha is about. If my gay brother and his partner, who have been together for 31 years, wish to have the blessings and burdens of marriage, I think they should. Or at least they should have some option for having health insurance, inheritance, visitation in ICU's, and healthcare directives. I know, I know, the amendment's proponents are focusing on the raising of children. Does that mean my marriage was invalid because I chose not to have children? Considering how lousy my marriage to my sexually abusive husband was, I think I will stick to the Boyo's once or twice a week visits.
Since 30% of children lived in single parent households, perhaps we should make them more able to cope. I think the stupidest thing the federal government did was send welfare mothers back to work, especially in single parent households. Who is raising these children? Daycare in most cases. If women are to raise children single-handedly, society needs to make some changes. The first is that through work or subsidies, women must have the money to support their children. This will be difficult since women make only 75% of what men do on average, if they work. Mothers on welfare get a lot less. The second thing is that women will have to band together into extended families, whether by blood or by choice. Part of the problem is that many of these women have little or no support system. Banding into extended families could provide a lot of that support.

I really got pissed off watching the report on the cuts to Medicaid in Mississippi on NOW. Mississippi is cutting their Medicaid eligibility from over $12,000 to $6,768 or $564/month. The Mississippi governor and legislators think $12,000/year is a lot of money for an elderly or disabled person. What planet do they live on? Oh, I forgot, Mississippi isn't Seattle. Still, if I'm not mistaken, $564/mo is one dollar less than the typical SSI grant that many disabled people live on. That means people on SSI will lose their Medicaid. It was pointed out that they can be eligible for Medicare, which doesn't have much of a prescription drug benefit. If I was in this position I would have to be paying out about $350 of my $565 dollars for medications. It was also pointed out that many drug companies have programs where they will provide the drugs free or at low cost. However, not all drugs are covered by the drug companies, and you might have to apply to several companies with differing qualifications to get all your meds. Many of the people at the town meeting were saying they would have to choose between buying medications and food. I guess that means Mississippi is cheap with the food stamps, too.
What is truly galling about this story is that the Democrats in the state proposed to raise the cigarette taxes instead of cutting benefits. Mississippi now has a tax of just $.18 on a pack of cigarettes, compared to the national average of $.72. Of course, we wouldn't want to tax the health-giving benefits of cigarettes out of the reach of the poor people. Oh, and I don't usually see bazillionaires smoking. They know the value of money.
The worst thing is this will backfire and cause higher medical costs, and more hospitalizations. People who don't take their medications as directed have more health care crises. (I have seen a recent study to that effect, but can't find it on the Web.)I ended up in the emergency room when I couldn't afford my asthma meds. I ended up on the psych ward for ten days when I couldn't afford my antidepressants. Fortunately, the hospital put me on "low income allowance", and bought my meds for me for several months while I was unemployed and uninsured. They rightly figured that if I had my meds, I would be less likely to use precious resources. That is why Medicare is so backward. Pay the doctors enough to see the patients without going broke, and dammit, buy their meds for them. Make sure they have enough food stamps to eat healthy foods, and pay for an exercize program for them. Then maybe healthcare costs will go down.