Alabama's GOP legislative super-majority wants voters to do its job and balance the state budget. Unable - or unwilling - to make any hard choices, those "leaders" in Montgomery passed a budget that only works if voters amend the state constitution.
Even though the state faces a $145 million+ shortfall in the budget, the legislators decided to spend more than $2 million holding a special election.
If we pass the amendment, the state will take over $400 million out of the Alabama Trust Fund over the next 3 years:
The Legislature on May 16 passed a $1.67 billion budget to fund most non-education state services in the fiscal year starting Oct. 1. The General Fund budget is about $67 million less than the current fiscal year.
Lawmakers debated further cutting Medicaid and prisons, but ended up giving citizens the chance to vote Sept. 18 on a constitutional amendment authorizing the transfer of $145.8 million from an oil and gas trust fund to the General Fund. The same amount would also be transferred in 2013 and 2014.
State Health Officer Donald Williams said failure of the constitutional amendment would wipe out about 10 percent of the revenue for state agencies.
So the legislature is offering voters this option: "Vote YES or you're forcing us to kick Grandma out of the nursing home and turn criminals loose."
I recently participated in a spirited Facebook discussion with a group of people who are passionate about this issue. I've received their permission to use parts of that discussion to share some of the best pro & con arguments I've seen on the issue.
Let's use them to open a similar discussion here at LIA. This is an incredibly important issue for the state & it deserves serious & sober discussion.
I'm not going to use blockquote after blockquote here because it's all quotes. Each comment is separated by line breaks.
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We need to vote "Yes" to the Alabama Medicaid Constitutional Amendment on Sept. 18, 2012. Voters will decide on a proposed constitutional amendment to move $437.4 million over three years from the Alabama Trust Fund to the General Fund. Basically, if they don't get the money from this Amendment, they will come back next session and try to take it out of the Education Trust Fund. I don't want to put education funding in jeopardy. So, I will vote Yes.
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There is no guarantee where they will spend the money once it's in the general fund, it could all go to prisons for example. The republicans are doing this because they don't want to address raising any taxes, at least that's what their lips say, but if you'll look at the broader picture, it paints a different story.
They don't want to raise taxes on the wealthy or the big corporations in the state, but they seem just fine to raise taxes on the poor, yet again! How are they hoping to raise taxes on the poor? They are expecting congress to vote to authorize tax collection on all internet purchases within the next three years. They believe this will be a windfall of revenue for the state and so they are only seeking to divert funds from the trust to the general through 2014.
This would have the effect of raising taxes almost solely on the middle class in Alabama as we're predominantly the ones buying goods from online retailers to save that almost 10% additional cost. This would decrease the buying power of households who are already cash strapped.
The republicans keep giving the farm away to every corporation who wants to do business in Alabama: free land, free improvements, upgraded roads and utilities, tax exemptions and subsidies. I don't see how we'll ever recover the costs to the state for business like Airbus to open shop here.
If we make it easier for the republicans to snub the Affordable Care Act, it's going to hurt more Alabamians for a long time. Why are they insisting on excluding Alabama from participating at a time when we need it so badly? Giving the republicans this band-aid wont save Medicaid, they'll still be slash benefits. We need a real solution and the Affordable Care Act is a good start.
In my opinion these four things could help save our state:
An Education Lottery to help fund our schools, which would also create new jobs and growth for Alabama.
Fully implementing the Affordable Care Act, which will lower health care costs for everyone and finance a large portion of our Medicaid liability. Not to mention create thousands of new jobs.
Overhauling our court system. Why do we pay $30,000 or more a year to house someone who had possession of a $50 bag of weed? There is no victim and they are no danger to society, why lock them away? Substance abuse is a healthcare issue, not criminal one, lets get it right! These are non violent offenders that we lock in cages with violent offenders, guess what? We turn them into hardcore criminals because when they get out, they can't get a job!
Repeal HB 56, it's hurting businesses who need those employees. Those immigrants it drove away were contributing to our local economy. To add insult to injury, it's turned a lot of people off from wanting to visit our state or do business with us.
So, if we approve this amendment to let the republicans play accounting tricks to continue their reckless policies, are we really saving anyone? Sounds like to me, we're dooming ourselves. They need to be held accountable for their failed policies and the people who buy into their lies, need to find our what they bought!
The Democratic Party is fighting a war on behalf of people who fight against us. How can we ever win if the casualties of war are empowering the very people who are destroying them?
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i understand the great difficulty created for medicaid if the amendment doesn't pass, but i kind of feel that we may be doing a historic good by voting against it. we may get through to the blue collar "independent" voter who seems to always end up in the gop column that republicans failed to do their job, from the gov to the lowest influential legislator. and if they once realize that, we may be onm the way to electing better people who will come up with better solutions.
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The unfortunate thing is we must remind voters in 2014 that the current GOP legislators DID NOT DO their JOB by not passing a budget that included revenue to meet our state's needs. Everyone that I talk to says that voting No will cause immeasureable pain to many people - I don't think it would force them to re-convene to pass a revenue measure.
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I am leaning toward "No" too. I am not trusting this situation, gotta give it a lot of thought and wondering if it's a scare tactic to get folks to vote in their favor since they did not do their job to begin with.
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hmmmm.... if there were only a way to save Medicaid without having to pass any additional laws or cost Alabamians any new money... oh wait, there is... Tell Governor Bentley to implement the Affordable Care Act... NOW! I am voting No. I am not giving the republican legislature a band-aid to help them continue to roll us back in time.
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Although I despise this either or and I agree many People are voting against their own best interests I will have to vote yes because I have Friends working in the Clinic Field who tell me if Medicaid is cut more People will die. They are already turning away People who do not match their Mandates back to a slow death if they have Cancer or Diabetes. Right now they have a deal with ECM who finally agreed to test a Patient desperately needing a Scan and then the Radiologist refused to read it..ECM has capped what they will do for low income Clinics and the situation is getting worse. I asked what could be done to educate these people to vote better and I was informed many of these places have Boards which are 99 per cent Republican. How the Republicans get into a medical situation in which they control the poor because they don't give a damn about them. I guess it looks good at the Country Club!
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"Let me be clear on the issue of the Constitutional Amendment vote in September. When the patient is on life support because the Doctor screwed up and you have a way to save the patient from dying, although it is not your responsibility to do so, you do what you can to save a life. THEN you GET RID of the DOCTOR. We have no choice but to vote YES now and make them pay later." from Mark Kennedy, on his FB page
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This is a real "rock and hard place" situation the legislature has put us in -- but they exactly what they were doing. If this vote fails, things will get worse. Then, perhaps, some people in Alabama will awake to the reality that how they vote has life-or-death consequences. I"m torn on the issue, to be sure, but must lean strongly toward voting NO.
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...as someone concerned about the folks who will be affected, I will be voting YES. I ask anyone thinking of voting NO to consider that they are voting "to teach a lesson" - punitively - punishing not only grown folks but CHILDREN. Sorry guys, I've run all the arguments in my head and voting YES is the only way I can look at myself in the mirror. This is where politics meets real life, and it's not a tough decision - helping sick kids (or helping educate kids) vs making a political statement is a no-brainer for me.
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I am not 100% decided by any means, not even close. I am still leaning toward No, simply because I think if this goes down in defeat, they are going to have no choice but to do fix it right. The way the system is now, people are already suffering and dying. I do not think for one minute if this amendment is defeated that the republican legislature is going to say, OK, that's it, turn off the lights and pull the plugs..
I think if it goes down in defeat, they are going to have to get serious about our priorities. I really feel like this is the opportunity we have to force their hand, not so much punish the sheep. If not now, how? What other leverage can we wield against them? Yes, of course I see the catastrophe that will ensue should funding be completely cut from Doctors and Hospitals, but seriously... Healthcare is a very big industry in Alabama, a very big employer with foot prints all over the state.
Do we really think for one second the republicans are going to give them the shaft? They understand the heavy political price they would pay if they did such a thing. That would absolutely have the effect of killing any hope they could ever have of governing in Alabama again.
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We're playing chicken with the Legislature in someone else's car, IMO. and if it goes wrong, we'll be the ones with "unintended consequences"
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I have taught high school for 18 years and if they rob the education fund I don't know what to do. I pay for all materials out of my pocket and haven't had a textbook to give my kids for the past two years. I teach algebra.
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TWELVE Days. 12 days between CA vote and start of fiscal year. Not time for alternate solution and we have already lost two pediatricians due to first round of late payments last spring. I am voting yes, emergency nature of immediate effect is not overstated. Medicaid expansion in 2014 is too late to help and only addresses new enrollees. Kids can't get educated if they are unhealthy or dead.
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I will begrudgingly be voting 'Yes' in September. Its a statement to the failure of our methods of revenue and a failure of the legislature to do its main job... Make the budget. When the task if put off somewhere else.
However, I got the feeling this is the best deal we can get. Should this fail Republicans would be in a tricky spot over revenue, but there is nothing to suggest they would be anything but lockstep in finding more grievous cuts.
I also know that there are plenty of lobbying influences who are salivating at the chance for this to fail just so there will be a special session and they can possibly slip a bill in.
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The problem is that there is NO GOOD SOLUTION given the choices that the @#$$ GOP legislature is offering.
A huge budget cut IS NOT THE ONLY OPTION in the case of a no vote. It's just the only option the hapless GOP supermajority is willing to consider.
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I am voting NO. Let the Governor call a special legislative session, let them earn their pay checks and do the peoples business! When this amendment goes down, they will have no choice but to fix the budget the right way.
I don't believe for one second that any republican is going to destroy the health care system in Alabama. It's not just Medicaid at stake, the Medicaid system is only the first Domino that will take down the whole thing. There is no way they would do that, that alone would cost them every election for the next 25 years! I would have said 100 years but as it turns out, people have very short memories about the GOP record of governing!
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They would get the monthly amount disbursed from state based on the total lower budget amount. The decrease for that month alone would mean Medicaid would have to hold payments for some work that had already been done as a delay. When a delay happened last March, just from a few weeks, every single ENT in Mobile County quit accepting children with Medicaid. My friends had to lay off staff. One had to take out a second mortgage on her home-- peds don't make so much that they can weather this. Then we lost two peds who got scared off from staying here because they expected more.
The waste of the money was set in stone when they left the Regular Session without a definite solution and passed the bucks to the voters to do their dirty work. You all are wrong if you don't think these guys will let Medicaid fail-- they are on the brink, consequences be damned. Look what they were willing to do to the agricultural economy in order to chase immigrants around. Logic is not a strong factor in their decision making. If I hadn't seen and heard this for myself last Spring in Montgomery, I wouldn't have believed it either. But some of them believe every one of these far right myths.
Do not make your decisions as if you are playing chess with rational people.
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This will crash the entire health care system in Alabama, make no mistake, it would effect every single person living in this state. People can believe that because they have employer based insurance that they wont be effected but that isn't true. What good is that insurance going to do you if there isn't a Doctor or hospital to care for you?
You see, if medicaid crashes, hospital emergency rooms are going to have lines around the block, in every hospital in this state and in our neighboring states. It is illegal to deny emergency stabilizing care to anyone regardless of their ability to pay. Not only will this effect everyone in this state, but it will effect our neighbors as well.
This won't be just a bunch of Liberals protesting and sending off online petitions, this is upper class Doctors and hospital Administrators, their attorneys, investment banks, suppliers, workers, universities.. everyone would be effected.
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What makes you think they won't do what they've done in the past - let it happen and then claim "unintended consequences"?
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don't fall into the trap of thinking the GOP legislators are logical or rational. Even with ALFA unsupportive, they stuck to their HB56 guns. What makes you think they'd be more responsive to an angry Healthcare lobby?
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Unless something changes, I'm a Yes. I have a family member who relies on Medicaid for healthcare.
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Of course, if I believed for one second that the failure of the amendment to pass would cause even one death, I wouldn't hesitate to vote yes. I cannot say after reading such great responses by everyone that it hasn't affected my decision, it has.
I respect the opinions of so many of you and they do matter to me. Unless I get more information to support my first instinct to vote No, I will vote Yes. I'm thinking that perhaps I need to take off my Democratic hat and forget about the game the republicans are playing.
If I didn't know anything at all about the circumstances of this vote, but someone came up to me and asked me if I would be in favor of taking the money out of the Alabama Trust Fund and putting it toward the needy people on Medicaid, I would say YES without hesitation.
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I don't think anyone is comfortable with this vote. I did some math that helped me. The withdrawal is .07% of the savings account. Besides, the right may take care of this for us.
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the exact way the budget is worded for Medicaid is contingent on the CA-- if the CA doesn't go into effect before Oct 1, the budget amount is inadequate. They wouldn't be given that additional money, and Don Williamson would immediately be forced to cut both services and provider payments. There is no way he is going to take a chance authorizing spending above that level, since he would not be able to predict final numbers. So the vote could not have waited. It could have been done EARLIER of course, in which case it might have been worth a gamble to force an alternative.
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I see what you are saying. It's the way they worded the Budget that was passed back in May and they would either have had to amend the budget while they were in session or go into special session now to change it to avoid cuts on Oct
1 should the amendment fail.
I guess that is one of the things Gov Bentley was referring to when he said they would call a special session if it doesn't pass. They are smart cookies when it comes to writing bills that make it impossible to skirt around, aren't they?! haha
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Which means (1) they painted us in this corner quite deliberately; (2) they also gave themselves an "out" in case we came too our senses and said "no" to their shenanigans. S0 -- what's wrong with forcing them into that special session?
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I have to confess that a some of it for me is my basic Scotch-Irish contrariness. I don't like somebody holding a gun to my head. I think that by urging people to vote for this, we're buying into the GOP budget narrative that theres NEVER, EVER a reason to raise revenue and instead we have to cut, cut, cut. I said previously, this is a false dilemma. I've had many such discussions with right wingers and they try to force the discussion into an either/or choice on their terms.
My response is always:"I don't accept your frame." Meaning that the options and scenario they present isn't one I agree with and I won't be forced into discussing an issue solely on their terms. That's almost always a losing proposition.
Now, to the Legislature specifically.... the reason they're asking voters to handle this issue and prop up the budget until after 2014 is that a "yes" vote insulates them from voter anger when our health care system begins to collapse and grandma gets kicked out of the nursing home and into a relative's living room.
We've spent enough time in this state letting the Legislature kick the can down the road - both parties. But this is a totally cynical ploy to avoid their Constitutional responsibility to pass a budget - and one that makes SENSE and is balanced... not one that only works if voters bail you out.
If we reward this bad behavior, we'll only see more of it because those jokers will claim victory, use their "success" to run for re-election, and spend 2014-2018 happily raiding every state coffer they can find in order to hand out state contracts and incentives to their corporate buddies.
This path is not sustainable, IMO, and the sooner we get off it, they better off we'll be.
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how many people die from lack of medical treatment before that special session?
I totally agree that the Legislature put us in this position on purpose. It doesn't change my obligations to "the least of these".
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Your argument for voting No is very compelling, in fact I know it is exactly the right thing to do. But, thinking about the larger picture now, it's made me realize something I was not considering before.
We know how badly demonized the poor are. The republican party has successfully turned a national outrage about the corruption of greed and the crimes of Wall Street, then turn it into a war against the poor. We have poor against poor, middle class against middle class and no longer an insistence that the wealthy pay more, no, it's medicare recipient tea baggers decrying the evils of taxes.
I can't help but to think now, if this doesn't pass, will they manage to blame the poor again? Will they be successful in saying that it's the lazy welfare mom's who have bankrupted the system? I hadn't thought about this before, because, well... we know where the blame lies.
I forgot to realize that it doesn't matter where the blame lies, it only matters where you make the people perceive the blame to be.
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I am aghast we would even consider risking living children, no matter what. Who here wouldn't try to pay ransom to save a kid, unless you had no money left? That's what this is, and I refuse to gamble with them. If we go down, it should be because there are zero options left.
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Time to start writing letters to our state legislators and governor, via "Letter to the Editor". Repeatedly. Between now and Sept 18. Protest our outrage that THEY did not do THEIR job and that THEY are the ones holding people's lives for ransom!!
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This was a great discussion that really highlights the different perspectives. And - darn it! - both sides are right. Voting yes rewards the GOP for their own incompetence. Voting no takes the gamble that the GOP will behave in a rational manner.
What say you on this issue, LIA folks?