Republican Dominated JCF Takes Aim at Children in Poverty

If you’re poor in Fitzwalkerstan, healthcare is a luxury.

The Journal-Sentinel reports this morning on a plan by the Republican dominated Joint Finance Committee to slash spending on healthcare for the poor.

Madison – An estimated 65,000 people – nearly half of them children – would leave the state’s health programs for the poor, under a proposal before a key legislative committee Thursday.

Gov. Scott Walker’s administration sent the proposal to the Joint Finance Committee as part of its efforts to bridge a more than half billion budget gap in the rapidly growing health plans.

The Medicaid plans cover one in five state residents – almost 1.2 million people – and provide everything from doctor visits for poor families to nursing home care for the elderly.

“Most of them will probably end up uninsured and will no longer have access to preventive health care when they need it,” said Jon Peacock, research director for the Wisconsin Council on Children and Families.

But the Walker administration has said the state has few other options besides raising taxes.

So raise taxes. Oh, that’s right, that’s heretical talk in Fitzwalkerstan. Better to let the poor die and “decrease the surplus population.“