3 days ago
'Big, beautiful bill' Medicaid cuts don't honor Preamble to the US Constitution
When I was in fifth grade, I was caught cheating on a test.
The test was identifying the state capitals, and it was my third time taking the test. I still can't tell you the state capitals. Shortly after that, we had a test on the Preamble to the U.S. Constitution. Of course, I could not memorize that. My brain doesn't work that way. So, in true Catholic school fashion, I had to write it numerous times. In the middle of who knows how many iterations, I finally connected what I was writing with the School House Rock song on TV. I never forgot it from that moment.
There has been a lot of talk about the U.S. Constitution over the last few years, and I think it is the Preamble that has been lost. We are so focused on the rights provided to us that we forgot why they were provided to us.
Here's what it says and how I interpret what it says:
"We the People (all of us, not kings, rulers) of these United States, in order to form a more perfect Union (better than where we came from), establish justice (Supreme Court; federal, appeals, state courts), insure domestic tranquility (so we can all live and flourish in peace), provide for the common defence (Department of Defense to protect our country), promote the general welfare (Congress, Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security), and secure the blessings of liberty (freedom) to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."
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Think about this when you vote. Is the person you are voting for living up to the Preamble? Or are they taking bits and pieces of the Constitution, mixing them up to make it sound like it's what they are doing? Watch what they do and how they vote, not what they say.
Kentucky, a focal point of the "big, beautiful bill" is "nearly $800 billion in reduced spending in the Medicaid program."
This will result in many Kentuckians being removed from insurance provided by Medicare and Medicaid (also known as Aetna Better Health of KY, Anthem KY Managed Care Plan, Humana Health Plan, Molina Healthcare of KY, Passport Health Plan, United Healthcare of KY, Wellcare Health Insurance, Passport, the Affordable Care Act).
That includes doctor visits, personal care homes, mental health services and physical therapy services.
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Don't think you are safe just because you have commercial insurance. Remember the days of pre-existing conditions? I do; I was in $20,000 debt for medical bills.
I have no doubt insurance companies will again be given free rein to cover only what they want to cover, and charge you a fortune for it.
Here's how our congressmen voted. Are they protecting you?
Agree or disagree? Submit a letter to the editor.
Angela Schardein is a licensed clinical social worker. Schardein has worked in community mental health for 22 years, including rural and urban areas in and around Louisville and Eastern Kentucky.
This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Kentucky will hurt from Medicaid cuts in proposed bill | Opinion
