Hear no Evil...

Albany likes to force counties and localities to do certain things. Albany doesn't, however, want to pay for them. Take Medicaid, for example. New York is a shrinking state, and Erie is a shrinking county. Yet Medicaid costs continue to rise at alarming rates. Why? New York has fewer people than Texas, and fewer people than California. Yet New York's Medcaid bill is in excess of Texas' and California's COMBINED. Why? States must all provide basic Medicaid coverage, and there is a menu of additional coverages that states can choose to provide, but are not required to. You guessed it. New York provides 'em all. So, when Channel 2 asked Paul Tokasz, the Assembly Majority Leader, and Dale Volker, a Republican State Senator, whether any Medicaid relief is coming from Albany, the answer was a resounding, in-your-face, fuck-you-taxpayers, "No."

Ask Assembly Majority Leader Paul Tokasz (D-Cheektowaga) about Medicaid, and he'll tell you this: "It's a healthcare program. Healthcare has gone up in double digit increases. The State of New York can't solve healthcare." Solving is one thing. Fixing what's wrong is another. Thursday's USA Today headline said Healthcare Tab Ready to Explode. Soon to become 19% of the US economy. "How do you take healthcare away from someone who's blind and handicapped and disabled, and the senior citizens?" Tokasz asks Rich Kellman. Kellman: "But how do you fix it?" "Tokasz: "Rich, that's 70 percent of the cost of the Medicaid program. I don't know. Do we wheel these people out of a nursing home?"

That's right, Assemblyman. There is nothing between paying everything for everybody and throwing the blind, handicapped and disabled (redundant?) out on the Street. What a load of scare-tactic garbage. What about the Republicans in the State Senate, you ask?

From the other chamber, the State Senate, Dale Volker (R-Depew): "This attempt to shift the blame to Albany is a little silly." Kellman: "Why do you say that, Senator. There are unfunded mandates, Medicaid." Volker: "Well, the Medicaid mandate is partially funded." Volker continues, "It's fine to blame other people, but this was created by a county that didn't plan."

Yeah. We didn't plan on Albany's continuing, never-ending bleeding of its people. So disgusting.