Medicaid and the myth of GOP cost cut...

In the first post in this series, I noted that in the “Path to Prosperity” — which Republicans approved unanimously — Rep. Paul Ryan cited Medicaid as one of the biggest drivers of our national debt. The Republican budget formerly known as the Ryan budget, it followed, was all about putting the brakes on “What Drives Our Debt,” as the “scare graph” that drove the point home was titled.

There are at least two problems with Republican’s assertions about Medicaid. Like I said earlier, Medicaid and Medicare are not the problem. They are part of of the bigger problem of skyrocketing health care costs. The problem is, Republican cuts to Medicaid don’t lower health care costs. It increases them.

Midnight cowboys

The NC House met under cover of darkness in the wee hours of this morning to override Gov. Bev Perdue’s veto of their disastrous, immoral budget.

It’s likely they didn’t want to wait for the light of day because today is a teacher lobbying day in Raleigh, and they didn’t have to courage to talk to these dedicated educators and then go slash their budgets. I’m sure Republican leaders wanted to be certain no one was swayed by pleas and real stories of need from teachers.

So, with the Senate poised to override the veto, it looks like this immoral budget will be what we have to live with for the next two years.