22-02-2025
We need to defend Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid
In Washington, they're talking about cutting Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security for the first time in generations.
Some people say it will never happen.
Others fear that it will.
We'll just have to wait and see.
But here are a few things to consider.
A study last year found that Kentucky and West Virginia were the unhealthiest states in the union.
Kentucky, it said, has the highest percentage of adults with no physical leisure-time activities — 34.77%.
Other things we rank high in are obesity (40.3%), getting less than seven hours of sleep (39.3%) and smoking (27.09%).
The study says that 32.7% of us have high cholesterol and 7.9% have heart disease.
So, we're not exactly a healthy place to live.
The U.S. Census Bureau says the poorest states in the country are Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico, West Virginia and Kentucky.
So, we need help.
According to the Cabinet for Health and Family Services, 31,426 Daviess Countians are on Medicaid this month — up from 31,379 last month.
That's roughly one-third of the county's population.
Medicare doesn't break it down by counties.
But last August, there were 986,495 of us in Kentucky on Medicare.
That's 17.8% of the population.
And in 2020, there were 1,009,092 of us in Kentucky on Social Security.
says Social Security pumps $1.4 billion into Kentucky every year.
Of course, the number of recipients is growing by the day as Baby Boomers continue to age.
In 1954, President Dwight D. 'Ike' Eisenhower wrote,' Should any political party attempt to abolish Social Security unemployment insurance and eliminate labor laws and farm programs, you would not hear of that party again in our political history.'
He wrote, 'There is a tiny splinter group, of course, that believes you can do these things. Among them are a few other Texas oil millionaires and an occasional politician or business man from other areas. Their number is negligible and they are stupid.'
Again, we're a poor, unhealthy state and these programs pump millions into Daviess County each year.
Whether the threat is real or not, we need to defend them.
