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State House Speaker Bill O' Brien's budget dumps costs onto those that cannot afford it in many areas.
One of the biggest is New Hampshire's hospitals and health care facilities:
It's unlikely that any applause about the particulars of the budget will come from the state's 26 hospitals, including Exeter Hospital and Portsmouth Regional Hospital. What the Legislature calls "no new taxes" is a euphemism to the N.H. Hospital Association, which accuses the Legislature of enacting a $250 million tax on hospitals to balance the budget.
250 million dollars is a paradigm-shifting sum in a small state like ours. Consequently, there will be two-fold tragedy to ensue. The first is what it will do to basic health services around the state:
Hospitals will be left to cut back on services, many of them already subsidized programs for the neediest patients;
...Cuts in mental health care and community health care will lead to patients being forced "in our emergency room," which is the costliest form of care.
The second is the inevitable job loss, benefit cuts, and premium hikes that will result in the health care profession.
I think we need to be clear-headed when assigning the lack of care Bill O'Brien and his enablers exhibited when crafting the budget.
Our public servants forced an immoral fiscal burden on the state that will cause unnecessary and irreparable harm. This is not serving the public.