Many other people will be thrown out of work under a cuts-only budget.
“I don’t know that I’ll be able to stay in business,” said Jerre van den Bent, owner of Dallas-based Therapy 2000, a 3,000-employee agency helping children with developmental disabilities.
Mickey Atkins, president of Austin-based D&S Residential Services, which has 13 group homes for the mentally disabled in Collin and Denton counties, said it couldn’t survive proposed cuts to “Medicaid waiver programs” that keep clients out of institutions.
“We’d be out of business by Sept. 1,” said Atkins, who has 1,500 employees.
George Linial, who represents Texas’ nonprofit nursing homes, with 35,000 residents, said cuts of 34 percent to Medicaid’s spending on skilled nursing facilities would be a death blow to what is a major employer in many rural areas.
“The cuts are basically going to close a lot of nursing homes,” said Linial, president of the Texas Association of Homes and Services for the Aging.
Don’t these people know that cutting government spending stimulates the economy and creates jobs? It must be true, because Rick Perry and the Empower Texas/TPPF ghouls say so. I think it has something to do with offering tribute to the Free Market Fairy. They’re never very clear on the details.
Many other people whose lives depend on Medicaid and other government-aided health services testified as well. You can read about some of their stories here, watch a short video here, and see what HHSC chief Tom Suehs has to say about budget cuts here. To sum it up, go read Dave Mann.
So, who’s less essential? The abused kids, the nursing home residents, the mentally ill, the Medicaid recipients? After just two days of hearings, it’s already clear that legislators either must tap the Rainy Day Fund and raise more revenue—or they will have to employ some twisted logic to decide whose program gets cut. There will be no good options, only less bad ones.
And even the less bad ones will be really, really bad. I hope the message is getting through. EoW has more.
UPDATE: And more from Mann.