By Fran Eaton -
How do simple issues become so complicated when they're mulled around under the Capitol Dome? This week's Always Right column is an admission that maybe I'm just too simple-minded to understand the profoundly confusing Medicaid system and how the legislature intends to correct the system's problems. Someone, please have the courtesy to explain it to those of us paying the bill?
The gloomy scenario is simple to understand. People who can’t afford private health care receive Medicaid. The more public funds allotted to health care, the less there is for education, public safety and public works programs and the more pressure on lawmakers to boost revenue through taxes and fees.
That’s where the system gets complicated. Believe it or not, hard-working folks have the gall to expect to be able to spend their money in a way they see best. They resent lawmakers taking away more and more of their tax dollars and using them in ways that don’t match taxpayers’ priorities. Fearing a voter backlash, legislators begin seeking tax hikes that are the least objectionable, typically so-called “sin taxes” on stuff like alcohol, tobacco and gambling.
