Senior citizens and the poor in Indiana beware. Indiana Senate Republicans want to give Governor Daniels the power to withdraw the state from Medicare and Medicaid, which would effectively throw all senior citizens and poor people in the state under the bus.

On Wednesday, a Senate panel approved House Bill 1269, and sent it to the full Senate for a vote. The bill gives Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels the authority to pull Indiana and all of its senior citizens out of Medicare. Indiana could also withdraw from Medicaid and many other federal health programs that primarily help the poor, including Obamacare.


According to the Indiana Economic Digest, the bill also permits the “governor to enter into a health care compact with other states that will enable each state to regulate the provision of health care at the state level but pay for it with federal funds.”

Critics say the bill allows the governor to strip senior citizens and the poor of their health care, and that’s exactly what this bill is all about. Since its passage, Republicans have wanted to kill Medicare, and now they may have found a way to strangle it until it “withers on the vine and dies,” as Newt Gingrich once said. Since Republicans are unable to kill Medicare and Medicaid at the federal level, state Republicans are going to attempt to withdraw from the programs state by state. Such a move represents a danger to senior citizens and the poor across the country. Without these crucial programs, our country’s most vulnerable citizens will be at risk of not being able to pay for the medical care they need. This is just more proof that Republicans don’t care about the poor and senior citizens.
Link: http://www.addictinginfo.org/2012/02/17/indiana-senate-to-vote-on-bill-to-withdraw-from-medicare-medicaid-and-other-federal-health-programs