Learning Curve

"Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me."
Matt. 25:40, from a parable of Jesus

I heard something from Joy last night that came as a total surprise, something long awaited, something I've wanted to teach but I didn't know how.

She said, "Sorry."

It wasn't just once either -- it was all of three times! Granted all three were echoes, prompted by adults. And I'm not at all happy about the incidents that prompted the need for apology: a hairpull, throwing a toy in the church nursery, tromping hard on her sister's toes. I'm simply rejoicing, however, that she's able to make that echo, no matter how much she understands or doesn't! It will make peer relations so much easier.

"Sorry" has a steep learning curve. I'm engaged in a process with a steep learning curve as well.

I gave a presentation last night to the adult Sunday-school class for my congregation, on Medicaid in Wisconsin and the so-called "budget-repair" bill. Members of our congregation have been deeply involved in citizen action in the wake of the various threats represented by the bill: to livelihoods, to the right to negotiate collectively, to the University of Wisconsin, to public education, to our economy as a whole, and so many more. People from our congregation have marched, written letters, signed petitions, shared information, and even had a group sleepover at the Capitol building on Thursday night (complete with kids!) I was moved by the enthusiasm at last weekend's retreat, creating a lovely pile of protest signs about the still-little-understood threat to medical assistance and public input that the bill contains.

At the retreat sign-making activity, I found myself asked to explain exactly what I meant when I said "Medicaid" and "medical assistance" and "BadgerCare," and found myself coming up short. Fortunately the press event that next afternoon got me started with a lot of information that I then wanted to share. I did share some of it here on the blog, but Medicaid is a complex program with many, many parts. I realized that I was feeling called upon to share still more, and to ask my congregation for further commitment and action.

So I offered to teach an adult Sunday-school class, and they gave it to me right away.

I wish I could do justice to the insightful questions and comments that came up during those 45 minutes. I was surely pushing the limits of my expertise, and others -- doctors, social workers, MA recipients -- chimed in with a will. One comment right at the end of the session, though, reminded me most poignantly how much I still have to learn.

I am coming from a frame where my family receives medical assistance funds for the purpose of making it possible for my daughter Joy to live at home rather than in an institution. During my LEND fellowship last year I heard a great deal about the history in Wisconsin and beyond of the policy shifts than now enable people with disabilities to move out of institutions into the community or to avoid institutions altogether, generally at significant cost savings. I also heard moving stories at last week's press event from people who rely on Medicaid dollars to live as productive community members, and are scared beyond belief that their support will be taken away and they will be warehoused in nursing homes.

This bias rang so loudly through my presentation that I failed to acknowledge the immense, vital role played by institutional facilities in situations where people's needs are so great and complex that living at home or in the community is not the best, or healthiest, or even survivable choice. And the commenter was deeply concerned about that aspect of my presentation.

Shoot, I knew better! I'd only to think of GrammaJ, now in her last days in a hospice facility. GrampaK could never have taken care of her at home these weeks!

So I needed to get called on it, a painful but necessary public corrective. Indeed, the voices of those who need such a level of care are even less represented than those who are succeeding in the community. Truly "the least of these" when it comes to having a voice in the public debate. Their funding is at risk too.

I listened. I let my thoughts be changed. I acknowledged my shortcoming, and apologized.

There is precious little listening coming from the Governor of Wisconsin and most of the legislators of his party who have (for the most part) been marching in lock step with the bill and its outrages and its timing.

However, word has it that one of the Republican state senators who has previously been in favor of the bill, has now changed his mind and says he will vote against it: Sen. Dale Schultz of District 17. He can be thanked at sen.schultz@legis.wisconsin.gov. Only two additional no-votes are needed. Update: the previous paragraph now appears to have been an unconfirmed rumor. Sigh.

There have been calls for Governor Scott Walker to begin listening, and mind-changing, and even perhaps apologizing. This scenario is not likely. But minds and hearts will need to be open to change, to negotiation, to the needs of the vulnerable, in order for the outcome of this budget process to be anything but catastrophic.

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So as to end on a lighter note, I'll close this morning with a joke that's making the rounds on Facebook. Peace out!

A unionized public employee, a member of the Tea Party, and a CEO are sitting at a table. In the middle of the table there is a plate with a dozen cookies on it. The CEO reaches across and takes 11 cookies, then looks at the Tea Partier, and says, "Look out for that union guy, he wants a piece of your cookie."

Medicaid in Wisconsin: What's At Stake? How Can I Help?

Rose and I held signs at the front of the room at a press conference yesterday. The event was held to draw attention to the stealth attack on Wisconsin Medicaid in Governor Scott Walker's "budget-repair" bill. Several hundred people overflowed the room, braving freezing rain to come out and show support.

"Stealth attack" is not too strong a term. As I've written before, the Medicaid-related part of the bill is flying almost entirely under the radar, overshadowed by the outrage over the attempt to break public-employee unions (including public school teachers & librarians, setting the stage for immense cuts in education to come.) Now that events in Wisconsin have hit the national news, the story line is still all about the unions.

There's an excellent new article in the Capital Times called "Why Such Little Outcry Over Bill's Impact on Medicaid Programs?" (The same reporter interviewed Rose after the press event. We shall see...) It's been a complex story to try & tell, because the upcoming cuts aren't actually in the current bill. What's in the bill is the unprecendented and undemocratic authority to make future cuts behind closed doors, with neither legislative oversight nor public input.

Now that the press event has given me an eagle-eye view of who all could be affected, I'm more appalled and worried than ever!

Medicaid, otherwise known as Medical Assistance (MA), provides a health-care and community support safety net for the most vulnerable in our state -- seniors, people with disabilities, people with mental illness, people with low incomes -- using a combination of state and federal funding. Over 1.1 million people in Wisconsin, around 20% of our state's population, use some form of Medicaid. Numbers have been on the rise due to the impact of the recession.

The newly-formed Medicaid Matters Alliance, the organizers of the press event, provided the following information, which I quote here directly with a few asides:

• 775,000 children and adults have basic medical coverage in BadgerCare
• 90,000 Wisconsin children and adults with severe mental illness use Medicaid services
• 9800 children and young adults (0-21) with severe disabilities utilize Medicaid community based supports and medical coverage [Personal note -- Joy is among this number]
• 20,500 people with developmental and physical disabilities stay independent at home and in their communities with Medicaid funded supports [Personal note -- Joy will be among this number in the future, if the program is not eviscerated]
• 18,000 seniors stay independent at home and in their communities with help from Medicaid
• 90,000 Wisconsin seniors rely on SeniorCare for affordable prescription drugs

We don't know yet who amoung those 1.1 million will be targeted in the upcoming cuts, nor to what extent those targeted will be hit -- and if the bill passes, we won't know until after the cuts have been made and it's a done deal.

The speakers at the event were varied, passionate, compelling. We heard from:

-- A retiree for whom Medicaid is the only thing that has allowed her to scrape by and live in her own home, after the recession decimated her retirement savings.

-- a woman who has spent half her life with quadriplegia due to a car accident, whose active and productive life in the community is at risk (and who would rather die than be warehoused in a nursing home)

-- several people for whom Medicaid is a lifeline for aid with mental illness issues, either for themselves or their children

-- a woman who lived with an abusive partner for 12 years, who could not have taken care of her injuries without MA, nor could she have left him without MA healthcare for her children (2 of whom have disabilities)

And the stories kept coming. This has the potential to devastate SO many people, each with their own story that has brought them to need medical-assistance help.

There should be thousands of people storming the Capitol on this issue alone!

But the word is only starting to spread.  And the people whom this most affects -- seniors, people with disabilities, people with mental illness, people with low incomes -- are not the ones with the resources to be easily able to hit the streets.

And if Governor Walker had his way, the stealth attack on Medicaid would have already been passed by now.

How You Can Help

People in Wisconsin: Governor Walker is saying that he's only hearing from people who support his position. Contact him and tell him that you oppose the undemocratic Medicaid process changes, and that they need to be removed from the bill. 608-266-1212, or govgeneral@wisconsin.gov.

There are four Wisconsin state senators who have yet to state a position on the bill. If you live in their districts, contact them with the same message as for Gov. Walker -- or if you know anyone who does live in their districts, get them to make the contacts! Click the links for contact information:
-- Sen. Dale Schultz of Richland Center, District 17
-- Sen. Michael Ellis of Neenah, District 19
-- Sen. Sheila Harsdorf of River Falls, District 10
-- Sen. Robert Cowles of Green Bay, District 2

For Anyone: To get updates directly from the coalition fighting to preserve our voice on Medicaid in Wisconsin, sign up at
-- "Like" the Save BadgerCare Coalition on Facebook or visit their website.
-- Join the Medicare Matters Alliance Google Group

Anywhere in the US that the Wisconsin story is being reported at all, a letter to the editor of your local paper would be a welcome help.

And finally, a fun morale-booster action step: Buy pizza for the protesters! Ian's Pizza by the Slice just off the Capitol Square, 608-257-9248, has been getting orders in from all over the country (& world). JoyDad and Rose and I availed ourselves of the pizza-generosity after the press event. Good stuff, great morale-booster!

Thank you so much for all you do. Keep spreading the word, friends!

P.S. TinyURL for this post is http://tinyurl.com/6k3hro3 -- please tweet widely!

(Tomorrow's post: Joy's friends make signs on her behalf)