The flurry of media attention to Terry Schiavo's case mostly leaves out an important but little-reported fact: Schiavo is a Social Security and Medicaid recipient.
Globe Gazette:
[Michael Schiavo's attorney] Felos said a trust fund that once contained up to $776,000 from a malpractice verdict awarded to Mrs. Schiavo was down at that time to $50,000, much of it saved to pay costs of the legal fight that was to come.
Terri Schiavo collects some Social Security disability benefits and Medicaid, which pay at least some of her medical costs, according to Felos.
Hospice care of up to $5,000 per month at that time was covered free of charge through a fund for indigent patients by Hospice of the Florida Suncoast.
If we want to put a real face on who is hurt by Bush's proposed Medicaid cuts and Social Security benefit reductions, we need look no further than the woman whose life is so urgently being pressed into view as an example of the need to 'protect life.'