Dunleavy seeks $295-an-hour 'senior advisor' to cut health care for poor people

Gov. Mike Dunleavy wants to hire a “senior advisor and strategist” for about $295 an hour to tell him how to cut health care for poor people in Alaska.

The contract is for up to 850 hours of work in a year at a cost of up to $250,000. The request for proposals is aimed at recruiting an Outside expert who will travel to Juneau and Anchorage but nowhere else in Alaska.

The person can work “remotely, but 8 trips of 3-5 days in length would be needed in Alaska and must be factored into the offeror’s hourly rate.”'

Nat Herz of Alaska’s Energy Desk brought this to public attention on Twitter.

According to the state, “it will be necessary to implement additional cost-saving initiatives to meet the FY2020 budget target,” the fiscal year that began July 1.

The high-priced expert is to deliver “A global roadmap that redesigns the Medicaid and public assistance system at a lower cost.”

Translated, that means the strategist will show Dunleavy how to cut health care and public assistance for poor people.

It also means that the state has no plan to implement the cuts in Medicaid brought about by the governor’s $50 million veto. There are no details on how poor people will be impacted and what services will be harder or impossible to receive. There are no details on how many health care providers will stop seeing Medicaid patients. There are no details on how much in federal money will be lost.

This is irresponsible.