The state of Indiana just denied life-saving surgery to a six month old after making deep budget cuts to their state health care safety net. The surgery saved the lives of 58 of the last 60 kids to get it. "Too bad, kiddo, we can't afford it."
Except, they can. Easily. We know this because of how much Indiana politicians are throwing -- excuse me, shoveling -- at the failed Afghanistan War.
The surgery that could save Seth Petreikis' life costs $500,000, which is ridiculous on its own. (That's half of what it costs to send a troop to Afghanistan for a year, by the way.) The state says it can't afford it after making more than a billion dollars in health-related budget cuts. The thing is, taxpayers in Indiana will pay $1.8 billion for proposed Afghanistan war spending for FY2011, far more than the cuts. And none -- none -- of the state's Members of Congress or U.S. senators voted against the most recent war funding bill.
Indiana State Senate Appropriations Chairman Luke Kenley (R) is talking about even more drastic budget cuts for kids like Seth -- even opting his state out of Medicaid altogether. He says "We can't afford it. We have to be serious about finding alternatives."
Hey, I've got an alternative for you, Kenley. How about you and the rest of your state's politicians get their priorities in order? You can afford it. You guys just don't think it's as important as wasting money on a war that's already killed or wounded 217 people from Indiana so far.
Bring home one troop from Afghanistan for six months and save Seth Petreikis' life. There's your alternative.
We need our politicians focused on fixing our problems here at home, not on costly, failed war in Afghanistan.
If you're fed up with this war that's not making us safer and that's not worth the cost, join Rethink Afghanistan on Facebook and Twitter.
Follow Derrick Crowe on Twitter: www.twitter.com/derrickcrowe
Granted nobody is 'responsible' for that war anymore, it was a former admintration did it. But quitting it will require somebody to get tagged a 'loser'. Right now it's easier for the pols to tag that little kid and his folks, and the couple of thousand Afghans who are going to get their 'termination notice' this year, too.
I think you're being more than a little naive here, and blame cuts both ways between the state and federal level here. It's not a coincidence that federal representatives will blow huge amounts of taxpayer money on hugely expensive wars on one hand, contributing to huge deficits and national debt, while using those same deficits and debts to bludgeon social services and safety nets to death. Similarly, it's not a coincidence that state politicians like Senator Kenley are so all-fire concerned about deficits that they are willing to opt out of Medicaid and drive uninsured rates through the roof, but are totally MIA on any sort of concerted push to influence their federal colleagues to rearrange priorities. It's good that you bring up California, a state where the state parties and the state elected officials actually *are* pushing the federal elected officials on war spending. Kenley's willingness to entertain wildly draconian ideas like opting out of Medicaid while keeping his mouth shut about priorities speaks volumes compared to his counterparts' outspokenness in California.
I know the middle class is suffering but where is a champion for the impoverished?