Budget concerns and care rationing

A report by UpNorthLive reminds us where the government’s priorities lie when health care services are one of their many commitments: not with providing the most or best care, but with curbing costs.

The latest appropriation bill trims hundreds of millions of dollars and may mean the end of school related healthcare for some children in several Northern Michigan communities.

Fred Keeslar with the Grand Traverse County Health Department says their wellness center at the TBA ISD Career Tech center is one of the programs that would feel the pinch if the state trims funding. Keeslar says the program “last year served over a thousand children that went through that school, and many of them received 2 to 4 services from the department.” Keeslar says the students are often uninsured teenagers in need of medical care, “the kind of services range from physicals to injuries, to illness to health promotions such as smoking cessation depression through mental health services.”

This isn’t an isolated case — seeing health care services cut back so the government can stay within their budget is something patients in countries with government-controlled health care are used to.

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