With more than half of U.S. states facing budgetary shortfalls, lawmakers are beginning to consider "painful" cuts in funding for subsidized health care programs aimed at providing low cost health insurance and services to the poor, in order to reduce spending and eliminate deficits.

With housing prices falling nationwide, and the economy slowing towards what some call a recession, Kaiser Daily Health Policy Reports reveal that cuts to health care programs are usually the first to be approved. This is because reducing low cost health insurance benefits and other subsidized programs offers immediate savings to struggling states.

But what ends up happening is that those who need help the most won't get it. Low cost health insurance programs offer state-subsidized coverage to millions of Americans who can't afford ballooning medical costs. These people are also those most likely to suffer late-stage cancer diagnosis, diabetes, and a host of health problems associated with not having enough health care.

Hopefully the cuts won't all go through - budgets aren't set in stone just yet, and with 47 million uninsured Americans out there, legislators know that low cost health insurance is on everybody's mind these days. But it's certain that until something in the health care system is changed, those who need health services the most will still have to struggle to get them.