On the recordApril 13, 2011
It is very cost effective. There are complaints that the benefits under Medicaid are actually very low, and it's hard for physicians and hospitals, medical providers, to deal with this. But by moving to a block grant that, as you say, it is designed to go down over time. And unlike the current system, which is sort of countercyclical, where the Federal Government has given more money in times of distress, which it's done to your State and my State in the last 2 years. If we hadn't got the extra payments from the Federal Government to help with Medicaid, I can't imagine what shape people would have been in in Sacramento and Salem, Oregon. The legislature would have just melted down. What this proposal is, is to continue this ratcheting down, no benefits when times are tough, and put States in a situation where too often they are either unable, or in the case of some States, unwilling to react. It's going to have a cascading effect. You mentioned the problem that's very likely to emerge with people being literally tossed out of nursing homes. This is something that Americans need to step back and look at what is being designed as part of this very pessimistic road map that is going to have very serious negative consequences.
