At the state level, however, Republican governors and legislators are still in a position to block the act’s expansion of Medicaid, denying health care to millions of vulnerable Americans. And they have seized that opportunity with gusto: Most Republican-controlled states, totaling half the nation, have rejected Medicaid expansion. And it shows. The number of uninsured Americans is dropping much faster in states accepting Medicaid expansion than in states rejecting it.
What’s amazing about this wave of rejection is that it appears to be motivated by pure spite. The federal government is prepared to pay for Medicaid expansion, so it would cost the states nothing, and would, in fact, provide an inflow of dollars. The health economist Jonathan Gruber, one of the principal architects of health reform — and normally a very mild-mannered guy — recently summed it up: The Medicaid-rejection states “are willing to sacrifice billions of dollars of injections into their economy in order to punish poor people. It really is just almost awesome in its evilness.” Indeed.
It's all part of their slippery slope "philosophy': that if they let this in, then next up is more godless communism. I'm sure they feel quite principled. Like when they try to stop gay marriage with the same fallacy: because what if you want to marry your dog next, or your toaster oven (talk about object oriented, heh heh).
ReplyDeleteWhen I campaign against intensively confined animals, the opposition is always, "we won't give you this because this is one step toward your vegan agenda" or whatever stupid stupidity that slope slides toward.