MEDICAID: Cuts unfair, devastating

The Idaho Legislature is contemplating cutting Medicaid services. Not only is this a bad idea because of the harm it will do to the most vulnerable members of our society, but because it is fiscally irresponsible to turn down the federal dollars that represent 70 percent of Medicaid funding! Cutting Medicaid would amount to rejecting those federal dollars, destined for Idaho, that WE taxpayers have already paid. What other investment can the state of Idaho make, where we pony up $30 and get $70 in immediate return? (The State Children's Health Insurance Fund - SCHIP - actually IS even better at 20/80 percent). To throw away $70 in order to save $30 makes no sense for Idaho taxpayers. And who will pay those emergency room bills for the uninsured? - The Idaho taxpayer.

These dollars, that create and maintain JOBS in our state, will flow to other states instead. This means that Idahoans will be paying federal taxes to support OTHER states, because OUR state leaders are blindly following a mantra of "no more taxes." Cutting Medicaid would be fiscally IRRESPONSIBLE WITH OUR TAX DOLLARS if we look at the bigger picture. We should be maximizing our investment in these programs, not cutting them.

JUSTIN STORMOGIPSON

Coeur d'Alene