“My oath of office certainly didn’t mean I have to ensure the general welfare of anybody in my state who lives below the poverty line,” say at least half-a-dozen basta . . . I mean, Republican governors. They are refusing to expand Medicaid, which is one of the pillars upon which the Affordable Care Act’s efforts to insure as many Americans as possible rests.
This is appalling. Not entirely surprising, mind you (thank you, Supreme Court, for allowing states to opt out of Medicaid expansion), but appalling. “I’m only governor of the wealthy and the upper middle class” seems to be the operative theory here. “If we have to spend more on Medicaid, there go those tax cuts I gave to the rich last legislative session. Can’t have that!”
Most of these governors: Florida Gov. Rick Scott, Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal, South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant, Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal and Texas Gov. Rick Perry — all Republicans — are in the Confed . . . excuse me, the South. I’m not surprised at that either. What’s really depressing is that the poor in those states are the least insured of any people in the country.
Texas had the highest rate of uninsurance in the nation last year: 24 percent, according to census data compiled by the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. In Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and Louisiana, it was 20 percent. Nineteen percent of Mississippians were uninsured in 2011. Nationally, 16 percent of people had no health insurance last year.
The heartlessness is sickening. These five men and one woman should be ashamed of themselves.
via Digby
Well, let’s see, what’s more despicable: providing an “entitlement” and then not funding its expansion? That’s the position Obama and Congressional Democrats placed the states in when they grew the eligibility requirements while not even providing money to pay for the projected 50% increase in number of covered individuals.
This is a hole in a lot of state budgets, not just the Republican-led ones. The GOP governors have political cover for saying these things, but the Democrats are going to have to find more money, too.
The Feds are paying 100% of Medicaid expansion for three years: “From 2014 to 2016, the federal government will pay 100 percent of the cost of covering newly eligible people.” After that it gradually drops to 90% in 2022 and after.
Also, admin costs for the two programs are significantly lower than for private firms. All things being equal, it shouldn’t cost those states anywhere near as much as is claimed (by Heritage, which has its thumb on the scale anyway, since it’s a right-wing think tank which hates government as part of its mission).
And anyway, if it means Rick Perry can’t keep giving tax cuts to his oil and gas billionaire buddies and instead has to pay that tax money for the health of the least among his citizens, that’s a benefit to more people than if he did not.
*groan* I just knew there’d be Rick Perry even before I clicked on the link.