Only the Poor and Those in Ill Health will Suffer

Four specters haunt the Poor—Old Age, Accident, Sickness and Unemployment.
David Lloyd George (1863–1945), Welsh Liberal politician, prime minister

Medicaid is overpaying for drugs according to three inspector general reports. Who profits from this bureaucratic snafu? Big drug and pharmacy companies, we the people certainly do not. What will George W. Bush do? My guess, he will find a way to ensure drug manufacturers don’t suffer.

According to the Los Angeles Times, the Medicaid health insurance program for low-income and disabled people is overpaying for prescription drugs by hundreds of millions or even billions of dollars a year.

Medicaid is a federal-state partnership that has become the nation’s largest health insurer, providing coverage for an estimated 53 million Americans. It’s beneficiaries include people with AIDS, children in low-income working families and Alzheimer’s patients in nursing homes. Of course, the budget passed by Congress calls for slowing the growth of Medicaid by $10 billion over five years.

Only the poor gets hurt here. If you have over extended yourself financially, because when the health of a loved one is at stake nothing matters, your previous escape -- bankruptcy has been taken away.

Our leader says the sacrifice is worth it.