Bush's Newly-Proposed Budget Plan That Contains Medicare Cuts

President Bush plans (work in progress) on proposing a bill to Congress that will become part of his budget plan to reduce large costs and federal spending if he can get Congress to accept his initiative. Bush believes there is unnecessary spending in the Medicare and Medicaid programs, yet he still wants to follow through with a 3 trillion dollar spending request. Bush's primary reason for saving on public health care is to create a surplus in the economy's long run, but his plan to cut health care spending will create still even higher deficits in the coming years. I see some fairly good intentions and possibly positive effects of his budget plan. He is trying to address the issue of unnecessary spending, but what Bush views as "unnecessary", I see as misdirected and inefficient in the context of the health care program's funding and how money is appropriated within the system. I strongly believe that Bush's spending cuts should have been more directed at the insurance companies rather than focused on taking money away from Medicaid (for low-income families), nursing homes, home care agencies, and ambulances. Bush's decision to propose this bill (or rather, more clearly, to advocate for this bill) that will cut off money for health insurance programs only reinstates how weak our economy has become relative to previous years and how costly it will be to maintain this current health care system in this fledgling economy.

What especially saddens me is that it takes money away from teaching programs for prospective nurses and doctors who want to be involved in internships before becoming a full-time professional. This takes away even more potential medical specialists from the American workforce, when these highly-qualified people are already in such high demand.

As you may guess, with Democratic majorities in the House and Senate, this is a very unpopular cut, but the Bush administration saw that about one-fourth of federal spending was on Medicare and Medicaid. They decided to diminish costs instead of reapportioning the funds, and avoided reducing costs that would, even in the slightest, have impact on the economy. I am relieved that Bush chose to decrease spending on the War in Iraq, and that the bill was created so that new regulations assigned to the two health insurance programs could be heavily revised by Congress.

In the end, this discussion will most likely not even matter. This bill will be dead before it is even discussed on the floor or put up for a vote. ;) Whad'ya think?