Nursing News:
Budget cuts in 2005 fail women and families

ANA nurse representatives joined with Democratic members of the Congressional Caucus for Women's Issues and women firefighters and police for a March 17 press conference aimed at exposing the devastating impact the Bush administration's Fiscal Year 2005 budget will have on women and children.
Speaking at the U.S. Capitol press event, ANA President Barbara Blakeney, MS, APRN,BC, ANP, urged the President and Congress not to abandon the insurance safety net for America's women and children in particular. "It is a national disgrace that there are nearly 44 million Americans living without health insurance coverage, including 8.5 million children -- and those numbers are rising," Blakeney said. "Nurses see firsthand, every day, the consequences of living without health insurance: delayed treatment, sicker patients, worse outcomes."
The Democratic members of the Congressional Caucus for Women's Issues also released a letter to President Bush protesting the cuts that in addition to hurting health care, will also slash funding for violence against women programs, small businesses, child care and education.
As Blakeney noted, problems in state finances have resulted in unprecedented cuts to Medicaid programs and the State Children's Health Insurance Program - known as S-CHIP. Recent studies have shown that budget rollbacks have already removed as many as 1.6 million low-income people from these insurance programs. Nearly half of persons losing insurance coverage are children.
Yet, the Administration's budget proposal reduces net federal funding for Medicaid by nearly $1 billion in fiscal year 2005 and by nearly $16 billion over the next decade. The House budget resolution assumes that the Energy and Commerce Committee will cut Medicaid $2.2 billion over the next five years. In addition, the administration's budget does not extend S-CHIP funds that, without such an extension, will revert to the federal Treasury. As a result, $63 million will expire from the S-CHIP program at the end of fiscal year 2005. This will cause about nine states to run out of S-CHIP funds in 2005.
"Unless Congress acts now to shore up Medicaid and S-CHIP, these draconian cuts will swell the ranks of the uninsured," said Blakeney. "America's nurses urge Congress and the Bush Administration to act now to ensure that America's fragile insurance safety net is not harmed beyond repair."