Letter: Don’t believe federal promises

There has been much complaining about recent cuts to our state budget. No one is happy with cuts to health care and education. It is my understanding that these cuts were necessary because the federal government cut its Medicaid payment to the state.

It’s interesting to me that those same individuals who are complaining about state budget cuts cannot understand why Gov. Bobby Jindal will not expand Medicaid under Obamacare. The federal government has promised to pay 100 percent of the costs of this expansion for the first three years and then 90 percent in later years. Anyone who actually believes this, is naive at best.

Many are also upset that the state of Louisiana will not set up medical exchanges and is leaving it up to the federal government to do so. It’s time that our residents realize that the federal government cannot keep its promises. Numbers don’t lie.

There is not enough money available, no matter how much you raise taxes, for the federal government to pay for all of this. Those who look to the federal government as their sugar daddy need to realize that the sugar daddy is broke. The federal government will continue to make promises it cannot keep and push that burden on to the states. We need to face reality.

P.M. Davis

office administrator

Baton Rouge

Comments

1) Comment by Whatnow - 28/02/2013

Twinkie1cat, Yeah, Vietnam was so necessary. Try a new one...

2) Comment by tradewinns - 28/02/2013

twinkiecat1, pres. johnson, a democrat in the 60's is who raided the SS lockbox. he did use the funds to pay for a war, it was vietnam. lucky me that was my time and in addition to shall i say interupting my young adult life then, it is now causing terror in my retirement life as all the politicians are saying is they cain't pay what they owe me and millions of others. not only can they not pay what they owe, they can and do pay the useless (who have never contributed one iota to america's sucess) all types of benefits from housing to food, medicine, dental, eye care, cell phone service etc. all of which i on my lousy SS retirement have to pay myself. yea, i'm tickled pink with the democrats party. i'll vote for a democrat when christ converts to islam. you'll call and let me know when that happens won't you?

3) Comment by DMJ - 28/02/2013

News flash: "the feds" a.k.a. "the government" is not a monolith. It's made up of people with competing motivations and beliefs. Don't blame "the government." Blame those who work in government and are screwing things up. If you're looking for suspects, might I suggest those who claim that government can't do anything right. People who offer self-fulfilling, self-serving prophecies are, in my opinion, not trustworthy.

4) Comment by billynurse - 28/02/2013

Amen , Mr. Davis ... For the feds , keeping promises is not a hard & fast rule....@twinkie1cat : What flavor is the propaganda koolaid this month ?

5) Comment by nimby? - 28/02/2013

I've had to cut back , trim my budget , do without certain "luxuries" . shared responsibilities , shared sacrifices , good words with a hollow ring .

6) Comment by InPVille - 28/02/2013

@twinkie1cat: I can always depend on you for a good laugh.

7) Comment by InPVille - 28/02/2013

@Atilla: "I seem to recall that Louisiana was overpaid Medicaid funds to the tune of hundreds of millions. . ." Sad to say this is true. Louisiana was caught using Federal Medicaid Funds received from earlier distributions to pay the state's matching funds for more Federal Medicaid Funds which is a NO! NO!

8) Comment by nimby? - 28/02/2013

too many states found out too late they could not afford to maintain projects started with one time federal funds .

9) Comment by twinkie1cat - 28/02/2013

The reason the federal government is not always able to keep its promises, at least not on the original time frame because the Republicans in Congress don't want the president to be successful. They also need to called out for robbing the Medicare Trust Fund to pay for an unnecessary war and should be forced to pay it back by cooperating with whatever the president wants to do to help the economy, especially closing the tax loophoes the wealthy so easily walk through.

10) Comment by Attila - 28/02/2013

I seem to recall that Louisiana was overpaid Medicaid funds to the tune of hundreds of millions....and, as that pillar of Christian brotherhood Jermiah Wright put it, the chickens are coming home to roost. I do not agree with Lil Booby on much these days, but he is right about the funding scheme. Big Bro gives, and Big Bro taketh away. Do not fall for this carrot, as the state will get stuck holding the bag....again.

11) Comment by DMJ - 28/02/2013

Jindal will come around. He's just posturing, which is what he does best.

12) Comment by SuzanneMS - 28/02/2013

Your understanding is wrong in so many ways. The federal cuts to Medicaid were expected, as was explained very well below. They were part of the deal. The federal government kept its side of the bargain. As for the reason for the budget cuts, how convenient that so many chose to ignore the fact that Jindal cut income taxes by repealing the Stelly Plan the year before the recession, knowing that the federal Katrina money was going to run out in a year or two, but counting on the majority of Louisianians to be too short-sighted to notice or care. The states' revenue would have dropped regardless; the recession only made a bad situation worse.

13) Comment by [e-mail] - 28/02/2013

No matter how big a payoff we expect Santa to bring us the fact is that "health" (tax) money is never free; first it had to be taken from people who worked for it, then the top is raked off by greedy politicians, then it's doled out by bureaucrats who have suspicious agendas.

14) Comment by tradewinns - 28/02/2013

i hate to bring in a few other facts, but i'll try. i'm sure ya'll have heard about the recession we (the nation & La.) have been mired in for the last 4-5 years. that resulted in a decline in revenue (taxes) to the state. as the state must have a balanced budget (no deficeit financing/ no printing presses) what are they suppose to do? the state could raise taxes. we all know that is counter productive in a recession and politically unpopular at the same time. so that means the state will cut expenditures. as pointed out the programs that can be cut is health care and education. a narrow selection for sure but currently the ones available. being the no nonsense, radical that i am, i'd include in cut side of the budget the ultra liberal, wasteful and full of fraud welfare system. those programs do nothing but take. they do not produce anything of any value to our society, unless you would like to include crime as a value added substance.

15) Comment by crazycajun - 28/02/2013

Sorry buddy but the cuts were initiated because a repub congressman put a rider on the Restore Act demanding payment now. If you have a problem with any of this call your repubs. It turned out awfully convenient for L'il booby.This really helped him to further wreck the Charity System faster. A coincidence? I think not!

16) Comment by InPVille - 28/02/2013

@Maelstrom: Obviously you subscribe to a different definition of the word "recent" than I. If you believe that the federal government is actually going to be able to keep its funding promises in the long term, I suggest you are extremely gullible. Even if a miracle happens, what I wrote about where the Louisiana Constitution permits budget cuts when funds are lacking is still correct. The state doesn't have the money to enhance Medical Spending when that is one of the few places where spending cuts are constitutional.

17) Comment by Maelstrom - 27/02/2013

InPVille: did you read the above post? It is not about the Louisiana Constitution. It puts all blame for cuts on the federal govt Your post is not relevant at all. Second, the most recent deficit was directly attributed to lack of revenue due to lower than expected gas prices (see previous Advocates if you doubt). As for the medicaid deficit, it was originally a provision placed into law through the efforts of Sen. Landrieu at the request of Bobby Jindal (only to have him criticize it after it was done). Both Republicans and Democrats (from other states) decided that the special consideration for Louisiana would not be continued. Considering that the Governor criticized the provision in the first place, perhaps he shouldn't have included that in the budget in the first place. Regular medicaid funds from the feds have not been effected. Blaming the feds for our 4 to 5 years of deficits and consistent overestimates of revenue is just an obfuscation of the reality.

18) Comment by InPVille - 27/02/2013

@Maelstrom: Davis specifically referred to ":recent" cuts. Are you aware that the Louisiana Constitution last revised under Gov. Edwards protects almost every line item in the budget EXCEPT Education and Health Care. Since the Constitution also requires a balanced budget, Education and Health Care are going to bear the burden of cuts. Well in the last elections the people voted to protect Medical payments to Seniors so only the non-senior adults and children programs can still be cut. Davis is absolutely correct about his main point that the government has promised far more than it can actually deliver.

19) Comment by Maelstrom - 27/02/2013

You are mistaken sir. We have had cuts to health care and education for 4 to 5 straight years. The one time cut in medicaid benefits was only one year and it was because of a previous special provision that gave Louisiana a higher percentage of dollars than other states. It was not meant to be permanent. Therefore, your assertion that the cuts are solely due to the medicaid cuts is just wrong. Higher education for the past 4 years has not only faced yearly cuts but also they have faced midyear cuts because revenue has been less than predicted. As pointed out in an earlier article, Louisiana is LAST in the nation in higher education funding. Yet there are people who frequently post that we spend too much on education. How do you get worse than last? Please reevaluate your position based on the facts, not the hope.