Comments

1
what i'm saying is MY ASS IS ABOUT TO GET FIRED......
2
I'm glad that people are being surprised. I hope it turns to shock, and then horror.

Kinda seems like until a generation suffers memorably our state's antitax, antispending craze might never end.
3
But at least our delicious candy bars are not taxed. And our wonderful, wonderful wealthy people - from whom all blessings flow, after all - will not be leaving due to the burden of paying taxes, as we were told would happen.

Thank GOD we had enough sense to vote those horrible measures down.

4
@1 - No, it's not saying my ass is about to get fired, it's saying my ass is about to run out of good guinea pigs to practice on. You unregistered commenters have such pathetic reading comprehension. Homey da Clown, I'm looking at YOU.
5
Who's getting excited for Atlas Shrugged on the big screen?!!
6
the patient pool for young aspiring dental students has been drastically cut

Horrors!
7
@ Rotten666: see what happens when there are not enough dentists in the next 20 years.

I encourage you to think of the big picture.

Horrors!
8
That's the conservative mantra: "I got mine, the rest of you can go fuck yourselves."
9
No worries we have the awesome smart highway signs. They are far more important than saving a few poor people from agonizing death.

$40+ million and counting.
10
Catalina,you are one hell of a gal.
11
People misunderstand what Medicaid and Medicare are. Medicare has premiums for Part B, a 20% copay requirement, and doesn't cover things like dental, long term care, and a host of other medical expenses. Medigap coverage is expensive. Medicaid fills in the gaps.
74% of Medicaid is now spent on the elderly and disabled. 75% of that is spent on optional programs that states can discontinue at will. Once the stimulus funds dry up in about two weeks many states will be back at a 50/50 split for all of this. In WA optional expenditures for medicaid for the disabled and elderly post-stimulus would come in at about 17% of general fund expenditures.
With so much spending locked in by entitlements and court mandated expenditures, there was no way that the disabled and elderly would not be harmed by cuts. It's just not possible given the math.
12
@7 Will people have real problems because of these cuts these cuts? Yup.

But a shortage of dentists in 20 years? Get a grip, chicken little.

Thanks, your post was one of the funniest things I have read on Slog in a looooooooong time.

13
@9, Well how the hell else are we going to know to slow down when it rains?
14
@12 the way I read it is that an underfunded system becomes less and less attractive to prospective dentists who seek an education at UW, who intend to set up shop here, start families here, spend money here, serve the community here. There currently IS a shortage of dentists in WA as elsewhere. Sure, not too many private offices take Medicaid patients, but I don't read that as being the point of this person's letter. I think the point is highlighting one of the many effects of these cuts - dental students rely upon a large enough patient pool to learn how to become good dentists. In turn, the most needy in the community get the service they would not otherwise get. Win-win, right?
15
Those wishing for a Libertarian or Republican Socialist utopia are quite welcome to move to Somalia.

We won't miss you.
16
@14 Look, I'm just pointing out that there are serious ramifications and then there are ramifications that are ...well just not as serious. Somehow I think the whole dentist issue is fairly ridiculous argument and only serves to diminish the real issues. Poor people lacking dental care sucks, but at the same time I will not worry myself over the Great Dentist Scarcity of 2030.
17
Dear Anonymous Dental School Worker:

I sincerely hope you mailed this letter to Gregoire and everyone else. When I read what you wrote, I'm sickened by the vocalization of the injustices to ourselves and our neighbors. Someone there MUST have a soul. It makes no sense to cut preventative care when the other option is rotting, infected teeth/mouth? And they're cutting services to CHILDREN! Until now, I had always thought that those who are guaranteed powerless to help themselves (children) would at least be safe, as they typically are. This makes me sick.
18
I love you, America, but you guys are so fucked. This is just the beginning of a crippling loss of services. And the part where the anonymous staff member talks about "undoing" the cuts - when and how the hell do you think that will happen? You're in the Long Decent now. What reason is there to believe that the future is going to get better?
19
@17: It is my understanding that only the adult dental benefit was cut. Nonetheless, I agree - I hope this writer has distributed this letter, too.
@ everyone else: Lobby Day 2011 is on Feb 21st in Olympia
20
@18 "What reason is there to believe that the future is going to get better?"

....because we're America, damn it!

Seriously, because our schools do such a shit job at teaching history, (and science, math, et all) many Americans have no idea how "the west" got a leg up on the rest of the world, and how America went on to become The Superpower (better than flight, which we invented) and so have no clue that this isn't simply the natural order of the world or that we could loose our position in it.
21
ok ok, dental association, but let me ask you this: why is that every single child and adult i know who was on the state's dental plan COULD NOT find a dentist willing to take them on? there may have been a dental plan on the state's books, but to the poor people i know, it was the same as not having a plan at all.
in fact, when we tried to call to get answers about how a person was to take advantage of this so-called plan, we never got calls back.
first time we hear from you is when you are about to get cut.
you can just rest easy in knowing that you weren't helping many people before and therefore, you won't be missed nearly as much as you'd like to imagine

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