I can do this. Budget shortfall,
plus another $35 million, carry the 1 ...
Texas Gov. Rick Perry may not be able to count to three, but apparently, he's a mathematical genius when it comes to funding the state's Medicaid program.
After losing federal funding because it was more important to screw over 130,000 poor women in order to stick it to Planned Parenthood, the governor and the state's Health and Human Services Commission are assuring Texans that it's all good, don't worry, they've got a plan:
With federal funding choked off, state health officials and Gov. Rick Perry pledge that a Medicaid based program directed at low-income women will live on without federal dollars—but the details on how and what else might be at stake as a result aren’t yet clear.
Okay, so maybe it's not so much a plan as a completely empty promise the state can't afford to keep because it's already knee-deep in budget problems. But it's not like the state's program was
that dependent on federal funding:
Texas now has to scramble to replenish the $35 million the federal government supplied, or 90 percent of the program’s funds, to ensure the state’s neediest women still have access to services like cancer screenings and birth control. Some worry the tab is unrealistic for the beleaguered Texas budget that already saw a two-thirds slice to family planning dollars. The state’s Health and Human Services Commission, however, is reassuring Texans they will, in fact, find the money.
Hmm. So let's do the math here: Budget shortfall + another $35 million the state now has to magically find ... what does that equal? Oh yeah. It equals 130,000 poor women in Texas losing their basic health care because the state violated federal law and lost its funding.
As the governor would say, oops.