Protestors want Smith to put promises in writing
By Tom Chapin Of The Punxsutawney Spirit
PUNXSUTAWNEY - They came a-knocking, but Sam wasn’t home.
A group of demonstrators with bullhorns chanting “We Want Sam” camped outside the Punxsutawney office of House Majority Leader Sam Smith Thursday, demanding that he confirm his opposition to Gov. Ed. Rendell’s proposed cuts in Medicaid and welfare reform.
On the other hand, Smith wanted the names and addresses of the demonstrators so he could state his position on the issue.
In the end, apparently neither Smith nor the demonstrators got what they were looking for.
Also, when a representative at Smith’s office at 527 East Mahoning St. informed the group that Smith was in Harrisburg - not Punxsutawney - Thursday, the demonstrators said they had already known that.
“We’re not supporting the governor’s bill, but at the end of the day, it’s hard to say what will become law relative to the Medicaid budget,” he told The Spirit Thursday afternoon. “Clearly, there will be some changes, but where those changes fall out, it’s a matter of negotiations between the house and the senate and the governor.”
About 20 demonstrators - most of them in wheelchairs - protested Rendell’s proposed spending plan that would cut nearly $500 million in services that would affect hospitals, pharmacists, enrollees and more.
The demonstrators also said they wanted Smith to back up his verbal commitment and promise to support the state’s budget without proposed Medicaid cuts.
“That’s why we’re here,” Bruce Roland, a disabled Medicaid recipient, said, “because of the impact Sam Smith has on this bill,” House Bills 1500 and 1501.
“We wanted them to contact Harrisburg,” Shona Eakin, the group’s spokesperson, said. “We wanted his assurance in writing.
“He said he understands our issue, and that he will do what he can to find an alternate to those proposed cuts,” Eakin said. “I’m only one person - I’m not even on Medicaid personally, but all these other people are.”
Smith said he did not send the fax but asked a representative in his office, Deb Meneely, to collect the names and addresses of those demonstrating.
“I told them, if they give me their names and addresses, I would be glad to write the individuals with my position relative to the governor’s bill,” Smith said.
The group members declined to provide that information.
“Why they would refuse to give their names is beyond me,” he said.
Meneely said the policy of the office is to not respond to anonymous letters, “so without that information, I can’t help them.”
As for a fax confirming his stance on Rendell’s proposal, Smith told The Spirit he wasn’t prepared to do so at this point.
“I simply am not in position to make an absolute promise of that nature,” he said.
“The bottom line is, anything we do with the medical system budget affects real people, and in their day-to-day lives, but there are people with special needs, and we will try to be sensitive and reflective of those issues,” Smith said. “We have to balance those against the needs of taxpayers in general.”
The Associated Press said Wednesday that even with the cuts, Medicaid is expected to cost the state $4.5 billion out of a projected budget of $23.8 billion.
The program provides health care for 1.8 million elderly, disabled and poor Pennsylvanians, a number that is expected to expand by 100,000 in the coming year, the AP said.
“People’s mothers, father, aunts, uncles, brothers and sisters are going to die if these cuts go through,” said Chris Lloyd, executive director of Disability Options Network in New Castle.
The coalition that demonstrated in front of Smith’s office at 527 East Mahoning St. was from Lawrence and Erie Counties, Lloyd said, and has already made similar protests at other legislators’ offices in May and June.
Lloyd said the group has until July 1 - when the 2005-06 state budget is due - to make its case.
“We’ve got three weeks to convince them that this is wrong,” Lloyd said.
He said Rendell’s plan would limit prescriptions to those on the program to six per month. Lloyd said some of the demonstrators Thursday have 13 prescriptions per month.
Also, the plan would limit doctors’ visits to 18 per year and ambulance rides to two per month.
Lloyd said some Medicaid clients - especially the disabled - require multiple ambulance rides to dialysis and other treatment.
Cutting Medicaid would also cut the autonomy of disabled people who want to live independently and not enter nursing or personal care homes.
“They would rather die than go to a nursing home,” Lloyd said.
He and others also took offense to the fact that the entrance to Smith’s office is not handicapped-accessible.
“This just blows me away,” he said. “If you want to argue, you can’t get into the office.”
Editor’s Note: Marsha Lavelle contributed to this report.
