The House of Representatives will be back in Washington for all of 4 days in December. Somehow they are supposed to make progress on budget negotiations while no one is there.
However, that does not stop some politicians for finding new ways to show they are against healthcare for poor people. Tim Heulskamp (GOP Kansas and card carrying member of Tea Party) has a proposal for when budget negotiations break down between the Senate and the House, he will ram through the House a plan to cut Medicaid spending by $20 bn and transfer the spending to the Department of Defense.
Of course, it was just yesterday that I read an article on how the DOD supposedly has wasteful spending of some $300 bn per year. I know anybody who is the military can point out how hard it is to prevent such waste when you cannot ration ammunition or any other necessary supplies to combat troops, have to keep the troops behind them happy and have to pay the contractors who are somehow cheaper than active military personnel. I have been skeptical of the widespread use of contractors, given they were not necessary in WWII, but this does not get any attention from anyone looking to control spending in D.C.
I deviate from my main point. Getting the uninsured into the insurance system is one of the keys to controlling costs. It will also lead to a healthier population and maybe allow them to find jobs and leave Medicaid.
I fail to see how a Tea Party attack on Medicaid is going to help prevent a government shutdown from happening again in January, and unless House leadership holds votes on stuff Democrats can support, I anticipate that the markets will have to react very negatively for a budget to emerge from the Congress.
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