Congress Could Meet Needs of Uninsured, Public Safety by Rescinding Parts of Tax Cut, Washington Post Editorial Says

Helping the uninsured and adding a prescription drug benefit to Medicare are issues that have "largely disappeared from view" after the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, the Washington Post writes in an editorial. The budget surplus that was "supposed" to finance "major health care reform" was reduced by the "large and regressive tax cut" supported by the Bush administration, the Sept. 11 attacks and the recession, according to the Post. Congress only "paid lip service" to health care needs, the Post says, even though it set aside $28 billion over three years to reduce the number of uninsured. These funds, however, have "disappeared with the surplus." Because the recession has caused people to lose their jobs and their employer-based health coverage and, at the same time, states are cutting back on Medicaid and other parts of the "health care safety net" to keep their budgets balanced, the Post writes that the need for reform has increased. Now, the administration will attempt to increase funding for defense and homeland security, while "limiting" expenses for other programs, including health care. However, the Post writes that both health care and security needs can be met if Congress "rescind[s]" the parts of the tax cut that have yet to take effect and would "mainly benefit the very rich." The Post concludes: "That's not rocket science, and if it isn't part of the legislative process in the year ahead, it ought to be a central issue in the 2002 political campaign" (Washington Post, 1/2).