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OLYMPIA -- Michael and Sharon Shaw of Seattle have turned colored bits of glass into their own American dream
Michael is an artist who produces and sells stained glass kaleidoscopes at Seattle's Pike Place Market.
His wife, Sharon, said the small business has supported their family for 19 years, with one exception -- they can't afford to buy health insurance.
"We have been covered by Basic Health," she said. "If we lose Basic Health, our health insurance premiums would be more than the mortgage for my home. That's unacceptable."
That's why Shaw and about 200 other members of the Healthy Washington Coalition rallied at the Capitol on Wednesday to save what they described as the health care safety net for low-income people.
The Basic Health Plan, which offers state-sponsored insurance to low-income people through private health plans, is one of the programs that could experience significant funding cuts as the Legislature wrestles with a revenue shortfall now estimated at $8.5 billion.
Gov. Chris Gregoire's budget released in December proposed to cut about $990 million from health care spending, including elimination of the universal vaccine program for children and an enrollment reduction in the Basic Health Plan.
Funding for the Basic Health program would be cut by 42 percent -- or $252 million.
Gregoire's proposal was made when the state's deficit appeared to be $5.7 billion. It since has grown by nearly $3 billion, but cuts can only come from 42 percent of the $32 million Gregoire proposed spending from the state's general fund for 2009-11.
About 58 percent of the budget is off-limits for reductions -- including spending for the state's basic education, debt repayment and federally mandated programs.
As the deficit has grown, so have the worries by people like Shaw that they'll lose services they need to get their families through the lengthy recession.
Billboards have appeared around Olympia proclaiming that cuts to public health spending will kill, and groups rally almost daily to protect their state-sponsored programs.
In addition to Shaw's group, about 400 people rallied on the Capitol steps on Wednesday to urge lawmakers to keep funding in place for people with developmental disabilities.
To the developmentally disabled, budget cutting is more than a mathematical exercise. Funding their programs means giving them dignity and independence, they said.
Dylan Kuehl of Olympia stood below the steps and shouted his message, "Tell our legislators that funding cuts ... are not OK with us."
Michael Rogers of Olympia said he's heard a lot of politicians talk about protecting the most vulnerable, but he said when people with disabilities get the help they need they can be as independent as anyone else.
"Today I choose not to be vulnerable," he said. "It's not about being vulnerable. It's about having the services that can make my life better. ... If they cut us, what happens? We don't have access to the services we need."
Money from the federal stimulus package will help preserve some health and social programs by offering a higher portion of government money to pay for services -- upping the federal match from about 50 percent to 60 percent through 2010.
Jeff Chapman, research director for the Washington State Budget and Policy Center, said that means Washington can save about $2 billion in state money while providing the same level of service.
But to get the full value of the federal money the state has to keep putting money into its programs.
Chapman told the House Health and Human Services Appropriation Committee on Tuesday that for every dollar Washington cuts from programs subsidized by the federal government -- such as Medicaid, children's health care and welfare payments -- it will lose $1.50 in federal matching money.
"We should be very careful about cuts to health care at this time," Chapman said.
