Only a heartless scoundrel could hear Michael Palmer’s story without feeling sad and frustrated.

Palmer suffers diabetes and a degenerative bone disease; he’s a cancer survivor. He hasn’t been able to work since 1997 and draws $844 a month from Social Security.

It’s not much to live on. At the same time, it’s $21 too much for Palmer to get the help he needs.

Palmer’s monthly income is too high to qualify for full MaineCare, the state’s version of Medicaid. Instead, he qualifies for a program that requires a $3,000 deductible every six months.

His monthly prescriptions cost him $580, leaving him only $264 for all his other expenses.

While Palmer’s story caught the attention of the Sun Journal because he called the newsroom, no doubt there are countless other cases just like his. Government health care programs work on a strict set of rules. Often, a person either qualifies or doesn’t. Period. A dollar too much income looks no different to a formula than $1,000 too much income.

There’s no easy answer for the situation. Maine already has liberal criteria for qualifying for MaineCare and the program’s expansion is an essential part of Gov. Baldacci’s Dirigo Health plan.

Typically, the federal government matches every $1 spent by states on Medicaid with $2. A recent formula change, however, will send less money to Maine, and passage of the budget resolution by both the U.S. House and Senate commits Congress to cutting more than $10 billion more from Medicaid.

The sad fact is that while the state’s commitment to provide quality health care to its residents is growing, the federal government is pulling back. As the federal support declines further, the income requirements for eligibility likely will increase, and more people will find themselves in a situation like Palmer’s.

It’s not right, but it’s the future. The state – and the country – is being consumed by the high cost of providing health care. And people like Michael Palmer are still left out, if just barely.

The problem calls out for a national solution but, instead, the country is treated to the spectacle of attacks on Social Security and on the filibuster when used on judicial nominations. That’s not right, either.