Mark Neumann: “If Washington finds a genuine need and it is legitimate and they actually need to spend money on something that is…”

“If Washington finds a genuine need and it is legitimate and they actually need to spend money on something that is legitimate, they need to find other programs that are not legitimate or not working and cancel those programs that are not working so we can afford to do a program that may be needed. Let me give you an example of how this might work. We just found out that women in their forties should have mammograms and we found out that it is a genuine need. We have welfare reform where able-bodied welfare recipients are now required to be in the work force. So we potentially have a woman in her forties who has gone into the work force, taken her first job, is earning someplace between $6 and $8 an hour or maybe even minimum wage, so she is at the bottom end of the pay scale. So Medicaid is going to have to cover--generally eligible for Medicaid, Medicaid would have to cover those mammograms. You cannot just say we are going to cover all the mammograms because the money has to come from somewhere. So let me give you an example how this might work. Suppose for example we said we are not going to send Russian monkeys into space with American tax dollars and instead what we are going to do is pay for mammograms for women in their forties who have just left the welfare roll and are in their first job and could not afford to have them otherwise.”