Times-Picayune:
Seldom has something as mundane as tinkering with the Federal Medical Assistance Percentage spawned such sensational condemnation.
On the eve of her pivotal vote last weekend to allow the Senate to proceed with consideration of health reform, it was revealed that Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., had secured a provision in the bill that would make a "special adjustment'' in the FMAP determination, bringing her home state between $100 million and $300 million in additional Medicaid money.
She had sold her vote, critics cried, in what they called the "Louisiana Purchase.'' Both Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck, in their broadcasts Monday, referred to Landrieu as a high-priced prostitute.
Yes, Beck and Limbaugh are calling Mary a whore, which is, when you think about it, a badge of honor coming from those two bottom feeders. I don't blame her one bit for holding out for the money. The health care system for the poor in New Orleans was not in good shape before Katrina but now is in a worse state, with Medicaid picking up the bill and punching a big hole in the state budget. One reason for the difficulty in getting health care to poor people is that a good portion of the medical infrastructure was flooded, not from Katrina, but from the FEDERAL FLOOD caused by faulty levees constructed by the U. S. Corps of Engineers, the levees which gave way and did not do the job of protecting the city. Only a fraction of the help that was promised by the federal government to the devastated city was actually given.
Mary's vote will cost her dearly in Louisiana, and it will help a little to be able to take home something to attempt to appease the local vultures that will be circling. Don't complain to me about Mary selling her vote, because I believe she did the right thing by voting as she did and by holding out for the money. Good for her.
