Newly-elected LA Gov. John Bel Edwards (D)
Great story here from the Boston
Globe: Medicaid
Expansion under the ACA (Obama-care).
It is a success story anyway it is measured – except by GOP standards.
Bobby
Jindal (R) whom Edwards replaced in January had rejected the expansion on the grounds that expanding access
would “jeopardize the care of the most vulnerable in our society.” (Yes, we are
all still laughing about that crazy-ass statement).
Introduction and Some Facts: According
to the Kaiser Family Foundation, approximately 3 million more Americans would
receive access to care if Medicaid expansion occurred in every state.
But to date right now, 19 GOP-controlled states continue to refuse
Medicaid expansion, a different choice is being made – they are not willing to help
people in dire need in millions of cases for health care and the GOP illogic is
simple: They continue to refuse to put political preservation and hatred of
President Obama above the needs of their citizens. In short, wait Mr. Obama out until the GOP wins back the W/H and then “repeal it.” Okay, repeal and replace it with
what? Oh, the same old “Back to the Future” that brought us to seek and get reform in the
first place? – Folks that ain’t gonna
work or happen.
Not surprisingly, these same 19 states, mostly RED states, are among
the unhealthiest in the nation, with some of the highest rates of illnesses and
deaths from diseases that are often easily preventable.
Just imagine 3 million Americans who right now can’t see a doctor or a
dentist, can’t fill prescriptions, and can’t get the drug or alcohol treatment
that could turn their lives around. They are put in the impossible position of
having to choose between their health — and the health of their family — and
putting food on the table.
As newly-elected Gov. Edwards
(the only one in the South) said last January when he took office about the
impact of broadening access to care for LA: “This will not only afford them peace of mind, but also to help
prevent them from slipping further into poverty and give them a fighting chance
for a better life.” He is 100% correct. Preventive care in the long run saves
money – why can’t GOPer’s see that… just like maintenance of anything: your
car, home, plane, other equipment in your garage – keep it up to date and
working is the same thing – prevent longer term cost. Only with health care we
are talking about lives.
The results speak for themselves: Take this one expansion study in
Arkansas and Kentucky (plus the non-expansion in Texas at the time).
“Poor adults who
started getting access to more care and who had been skipping medications
because of cost and trouble paying medical bills declined significantly and the
share of individuals with chronic conditions who obtained regular care
increased, plus the percentage of residents who were able to simply have a
medical checkup jumped
by 7 points.” However, in Texas (the state that often talks of secession)
and where expansion has not taken place, there’s been little success in
reducing uninsured rates or improving health care outcomes – more
on Texas part here (Texas Tribune).
LA is a great public policy story — one that shows how a targeted
effort using government resources for the most vulnerable can produce positive,
even life-changing results. But the political part of the story is less great in
those 19 states that have continued to reject calls for expansion and again, not
coincidentally, all 19 of them have either a Republican governor or a
Republican state legislature in charge. While many of these states have argued
that the costs will be prohibitive, it’s long past time to discard this
dishonest talking point. The evidence simply is not there.
For example, where the BS is deep, in VA, the GOP-controlled
legislature has long resisted a push from the state’s governor, Terry McAuliffe
(D) to expand Medicaid for more than 400,000 Virginians, with their bogus
claims that it would cost the state $1 billion. The actual cost as estimated by
the fact-checking sites, like Politi
Fact, found it would be only around $3 million.
This story of political change
reinforces an old cliché that says: “The GOP creates and ducks problems while DEMS get things done.” I wonder, why are GOPers serving in public office?
So, a big Kudos to
the voters of Louisiana for putting Gov. Edwards in while saying bye-bye to former
Gov. Jindal.
Thanks for stopping by.
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