Bunning’s Blockage of Unemployment and COBRA Benefits Will Cost States Big Bucks
Feb 27th, 2010 | 23 responses
Isaiah J. Poole at Campaign for America’s future tells us that Sen. Jim Bunning’s refusal to allow even a temporary extension of unemployment insurance and COBRA funding that expires tomorrow “is going to end up costing cash-strapped states millions of dollars as well as potentially causing millions of workers to lose their unemployment benefits.” Continuing:
The human cost is obvious: People who have been searching for work unsuccessfully for six months or more are suddenly going to lose their only means of income. And that’s going to be a lot of people in a state like Bunning’s Kentucky, where the unemployment rate is 10.7 percent, compared to 9.7 percent nationally. Nationally, 6.3 million people have been out of work for more than 27 weeks, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
But there are significant costs to cash-strapped states, which are going to have to start sending out notices Monday to many of the people who will lose eligibility under these programs. The National Association of State Workforce Agencies doesn’t have a solid estimate on those administrative costs, but “it’s certainly millions,” said spokesman Ben Fendler, and “the magnitude of the problem will increase significantly if the programs are not reenacted immediately,” because new people will lose their eligibility for extended benefits at the rate of 150,000 a week.
On the health care front, here is a moment of compassionate conservatism (see quote below) that I missed (thanks to Michael Stickings, who wrote about it at The Reaction today):
Emergency rooms should be able to turn patients away to cut costs, Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R-Minn.) said last night
Appearing on Fox News’s “On the Record with Greta Van Sustren” last night, Pawlenty said the federal law that mandates ER treatment should be repealed.
“Well, for one thing you could do is change the federal law so that not every ER is required to treat everybody who comes in the door, even if they have a minor condition,” Pawlenty said. “They should be — if you have a minor condition, instead of being at the really expensive ER, you should be at the primary care clinic.”
Supporters of the federal law would content that many people go to ERs precisely because they do not have the insurance to pay for a primary care physician.
Van Susteren was also skeptical about Pawlenty’s proposal, pointing out that it’s difficult to tell what’s a minor condition without treating it.
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23 Responses to “Bunning’s Blockage of Unemployment and COBRA Benefits Will Cost States Big Bucks”
But, but, Kathy, all this fine Senator is trying to do is insisting that we pay as we go.
Dear State of Kentucky: any chance you can fire this Bunning idiot and put him on the unemployment lines along with the rest of us?
Bunning is either mentally ill or a sociopathic skunk (sorry if that's redundant). There are no other possibilities.
Empathy-ectomy, lol! I love that.
“Well, for one thing you could do is change the federal law so that not every ER is required to treat everybody who comes in the door… if you have a minor condition, instead of being at the really expensive ER, you should be at the primary care clinic.”
So who determines who has a serious condition or not? If the ER examines you and determines you have a minor condition, why wouldn't they treat you? It seems to me that if the doctors didn't treat you at the ER after examining you, and sent you elsewhere, that the next doctor would have to examine you all over again, which is more costly.
It would save a lot of money if, instead of doctors examining us, everyone would simply tell the doctors what drugs and treatments to prescribe to them.
Democrats…Reid when he cut out everything to pass the jobs bill first……it was tacked on to extensions which was his way of pushing it through.Also by waiting to the twelfth hour was just another way of pushing it. The extensions has not been treated with any urgency more politics.The debating of anything is shot down with no discussions just saying it is not going to change.
If the brain trust on all things are on one side or the other way debate it,now stated as fact.
“if you have a minor condition, instead of being at the really expensive ER, you should be at the primary care clinic.” If you are without any insurance they will not treat you.This is the way government has sit it up, no choices.
["if you have a minor condition, instead of being at the really expensive ER, you should be at the primary care clinic." If you are without any insurance they will not treat you.This is the way government has sit it up, no choice.]
And why would anyone expect Mr. Pawlenty (or any congressman) to know this? Or what it's like to lose your home to foreclosure, or be unable to send your children to college, or even to retire at age 65 since your retirement account is now defunct. I don't doubt their ability to “know” these things, I doubt their ability to understand these things.
Apparently Minnesotans have a “fialure to communicate” with the good governor – or else they're a lot better off than the rest of the country.
In my area, we have a number of alternatives to the Emergency Room, including Urgent Care facilities and small clinics in the pharmacies. The pharmacy clinics, as I understand them, are set up to be extremely inexpensive (like… ten or twenty bucks?).
Either of those are vastly better than using the ER for non-emergent care.
One of the big reasons (i think) with the over-use of ER facilities is that many people are either not aware of other options, or don't know where they're located.
Ah, yes, the magical primary care clinic. Where they don't want you because you're poor, indigent, and have no insurance. The primary clinic that's more stressed by patient load than the emergency room, that you don't know where it is, can't get to anyway because it's in the suburbs and oh, yeah, you have no car and no money for bus fare.
These rubes have no more understanding of the problems of the poor than they do of the man in the moon.
Primary care clinic? If you're responding to me, I didn't refer to such a thing.
Your mention, though, of urban versus suburban (vs rural, too) is valid. The options are wildly different depending on where one lives.
On the article's main focus…I think it's worth considering the various ways that funding flows back and forth between the states and the federal govt.
Although I'm on the side of extending COBRA funding during the current deep recession, for instance, I still can't help but note that this is one of many ways that the states get bailed out during hard times.
The governors, with some justification, often complain about the unfunded mandates from the federal govt, but they certainly don't complain when they get the opportunity to shift their own state's fiscal irresponsibility to the feds. Most states now have balanced budget amendments, so they can pretend to be fiscally responsible…but in reality any time they then get in trouble, they can get bailed out by the federal govt.
I think this is something that has to be addressed if we're ever to get the federal deficits under control. If the federal govt is always going to be the backstop, then there should be reserves set aside for times when tax revenues fall in a down cycle economy. However, it would be far better if each state was forced to keep its own reserve (or maybe pay into some sort of FDIC type insurance system.)
OK — instead of “empathectomy” (s/b no problem), it's “empathy-ectomy” for the Dem Booster Corpse.
* * *
“In my area, we have a number of alternatives to the Emergency Room, including Urgent Care facilities and small clinics in the pharmacies.”
What I wouldn't give for that here in my state with a fully Dem Congressional delegation and the future of health care already in place. (No openings for new patients at doctor and clinic offices, no drop-ins at all, urgent care clinic routinely closed, the ER _is_ the regular doctor, as I have to remind them.)
(Three straight visits, 17, 16, 13 hours…)
“in my state with a fully Dem Congressional delegation”
Which is may be why these doctors and nurses yesterday were asking _me_ what _they_ should do! …
Why complain about this, why not encourage the democrats to do as he asks and actually explain where the money comes from before they spend it. This is like the third post of complaining about Bunning asking Congress to show how they will pay for something. Guess the poster isn't a big fan of transparancy.
Bingo! And this is part of the problem – having governing decisions be made by people who are so removed, so insulated from the problems and needs of ordinary citizens. The level of accountability to them is minimal, for us it's huge.
“there should be reserves set aside”
Yes, in fact. Like the Social Security and Medicare “trust funds,” in reality. [smile]
Bunning can only stall the bill, but the bill will eventually be passed anyway. Bunning's little show was just to get attention for his “principles” which was entirely pointless, because it will have NO EFFECT ON THE DEFICIT WHATSOEVER. But this little show of his will be an absolute disaster to 1 million people on unemployment and cobra.
In fact, because of his heartless actions, now even more millions of dollars will have to be spent by the unemployment agencies to prop back up the benefits when this finally passes. So this fool not only has forced millions of Americans into possibly losing their homes, cars and no food to eat, he has actually caused states to now have to spend millions more to start up the process again.
Don't you wonder were Jim Bunning was when George Bush added $8 Trillion to the deficit–oh right, voting for each and every budget bill, war extension… What a hypocrite!
Jim Bunning is one of the most crooked members of congress with his 'nonprofit' organization giving more cash to Jim Bunning than it gives to charity. He draws down $400 an hour from this farce, which certainly explains why he has a hard time understanding why unemployment checks would be sorta important to many people who've suffered because of inaction and poor policy put forth by the likes of his GOP.
Your “facts” are inaccurate to some extent.
When the vote to move a bill forward is 99 to 1, and you are the 1, something is wrong. Especially when the bill has to do with extending unemployment benefits and YOUR VERY OWN STATE has very high unemployment in these difficult times.
What he wants is a version of the bill they are discussing that HE put ammendments in passed thru unanimous consent because he openly admitted that HIS bill with HIS ammendments would fail because his own REPUBLICAN colleagues won't support it…and he TOLD Durbin that straight up on C-Span after Durbin offered to put HIS bill with HIS ammendments on the floor for vote FOUR TIMES.
He wants HIS version of the bill with HIS ammendments in it passed on unanimous consent so his own REPUBLICAN colleagues that DON'T SUPPORT HIS BILL with HIS ammendments in it can't deafeat it. If his own REPUBLICAN colleagues won't support HIS bill with HIS ammendments in it, what does THAT tell you? If it was as simple as just paying for it out of stimulus money for 30 days, his own REPUBLICAN colleagues would have no problem supporting HIS bill with HIS ammendments, but they DON'T.
So Carol, where is the money coming from? Got a breakdown?
Bunning is just giving us a preview of life under Obamacare if the Dems use Reconciliation. http://tinyurl.com/yaljnw3
“life under Obamacare”
Is it like this?
The 3.25% Medicaid pay cut scheduled to take effect April 1 in Oklahoma will lead most of the state's physicians to stop seeing at least some Medicaid patients, according to recent survey responses from more than 200 doctors.
16.9% would continue to accept new Medicaid patients
45.9% would stop seeing new Medicaid patients
37.2% would stop seeing all Medicaid patients
http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2010/03/01/gvs…
He voted to block the 10 billion UI extension because he wanted to pass his 82 billion pork bill.
This isn't just about unemployment benefits (which the people claiming have paid into for YEARS!!!!), it also has to do with the shut down transportation projects all over the country (putting WORKING people out of work), shut down the National Flood Insurance program and cut pay by 21% for doctor's who see Medicare patients.
In effect he has screwed over the people already screwed over by the GOP/Wall Street debacle, putting even more working people out of work, and made it so seniors can't see a doctor. This man saved a nickel by burning a dollar. It is going to cost a FORTUNE, far more than he supposedly wanted to save, to start back up all these programs and rehire everyone. But that's simplistic GOP logic for ya…
Made a deal with the devil -
snip-
Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said he was pleased a deal could be reached.
“Bunning is coming back now, he has accepted our offer to have one offsetting amendment, which is an offer we made last week, and now he’s accepted it. I think it’s a new offset, we’re waiting to see. So, we’ll see where it goes,” Durbin said. “So it would give us two votes: offset amendment and final passage of the short-term .”
http://www.rollcall.com/news/43750-1.html?type=printer...