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The 2009 Legislature convenes for the first time tomorrow, and the thing on everybody's mind is the imminent cuts to the state's health and human services programs.
Barbara Muller, mother of a diabetic son, said, "The Legislature, whom we've paid to help us, are about to make incredible decisions. With the stroke of the pen and a little bit of courage, they can help people live, or by that same pen, they can condemn people to death."
One day, Muller's son got very sick, but she didn't have any money to buy more insulin, so she made a decision. She said, "I thought the placebo effect. If I fill that vial with water, he'll never know, and maybe if he thinks he's getting the medicine that he needs, we'll get through payday." That decision landed her son in the hospital, fighting for his life.
Muller was handed a $17,000 hospital bill. She said, "I was led to a position of desperation because there is not health care in America for everyone."
Now, state programs like Medicaid and Meals on Wheels that help fill that insurance void could end.
It's something an interfaith group is urging the Legislature to reconsider. Pastor Steve Klemz, with the Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church, said, "Cutting meals for homebound seniors, cutting health care for people with disabilities, these cuts are unjust."
In a letter to the Legislature, the group asked lawmakers to wait on any decisions until Congress passes its economic stimulus plan. Klemz said, "By then we should see that help is coming, and we won't have to hurt such a large population of Utahns."
Senate budget chairman Lyle Hillyard, R-Logan, told the Salt Lake Tribune health and human services programs could get hit twice as hard if lawmakers avoid cuts to education. The reason is because education makes up nearly half of overall state spending.
Lawmakers will need to cut as much as 7 percent out of this year's budget to keep the state from going in the red before they tackle next year's finances, which will likely require even larger cuts.
E-mail: kmccord@ksl.com
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