MEDICAID: Cuts will be devastating

The proposed cuts to services provided through Medicaid to people with developmental disabilities and people with severe and persistent mental illnesses is truly alarming and heartwrenching. Whether the cuts are $35 million or $50 million, along with the loss of Federal matching funds, they are drastic.

If the state of Idaho approves these cuts, it truly is expecting the most vulnerable of our citizens to carry an unfair share of the burden caused by budget challenges.

Unwillingness to consider tax increases by the legislature sidesteps the seriousness of cutting needed services that are cost effective in the long term.

No one really wants to consider paying more taxes, but we do want responsible government that provides needed services to people who through no fault of their own suffer from developmental disabilities or mental illness.

VINETTA RUTH SPENCER

Coeur d'Alene