Health consumers make deficit fight personal

The numbers are devastating: almost 2,000 poor kids in Texas with cancer, another 18,000 with diabetes and more than 350,000 suffering from chronic lung disease, heart disease or stroke.

What sounds like a grim statistical report on poverty and disease is actually a lobbying message from Medicaid advocates to Texas congressman Jeb Hensarling, Republican co-chairman of a special congressional panel charged with cutting at least $1.2 trillion from the U.S. deficit over 10 years.

The message is in a 14-page electronic brochure titled "Medicaid's Impact in Texas," sent to Hensarling and other Texas lawmakers by the health consumer advocacy group Families USA, American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, American Diabetes Association and American Lung Association.

The aim is to remind Congress of the potential human toll from tens of billions of dollars in federal Medicaid spending cuts that the groups expect Hensarling and his fellow "super committee" members to consider in the coming weeks.

"We want to make sure members of the super committee feel a more personal connection to what Medicaid cuts would mean for people in their home states," said Ron Pollack, executive director of the Families USA, which is spearheading the campaign.

Brochures for all 50 states and the District of Columbia are in production for a drive expected to continue into 2013, when the next Congress takes office.

TWEAKING THE CONSCIENCE

But that is not the only push to influence deficit talks by playing on the emotions of key politicians.

Hundreds of cancer patients, survivors and caregivers trooped into lawmakers' offices on Capitol Hill last week to argue against any cuts that could harm their community. They have since fanned out across the country to lobby in home states and districts.

Religious leaders are also getting into the act. Beginning Tuesday, a coalition of Christians, Jews and Muslims called the Faithful Budget Campaign will hold weekly prayer vigils outside the U.S. Capitol to oppose cuts to Medicaid and other programs that benefit the poor.

The coalition plans a "super" vigil in November that will include simultaneous prayer services outside committee members' home offices.

The efforts are part of a looming battle over deficit reduction between special-interest groups that represent millions of Medicaid and Medicare beneficiaries, and a healthcare industry that has poured more than $1 billion into federal campaign coffers over a period of decades, according to data from the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics, which tracks campaign contributions.

The clash could have consequences for the White House, the Senate and the House of Representatives in the 2012 elections, if cuts to the popular programs become a rallying cry for angry senior citizens and other impacted voters, analysts say.