The Politicizing of Medicaid

Most know by now that the supreme court decision on “Obamacare”, Affordable Care Act, allows states to opt out of Medicaid expansion without losing their existing Medicaid funding. Can’t you see the Republican governors rubbing their hands together about this?

But is it that simple? Say you are that Republican Governor like Scott Walker here in Wisconsin and your party controls the state legislature. The Baseline Scenario puts it this way. You have some working class households in your state that make, say, $25,000 and don’t get health insurance through work. Currently many of them are uninsured. As governor, you have some obligation to look after their interests, even if it’s not a technical legal obligation. You could buy all of them health insurance (not very good health insurance, mind you, but it’s far better than nothing) at a 90 percent discount because the federal government will pick up the rest of the tab.

The advantages are obvious and most states will take advantage of the program. But if you are Scott Walker or Rick Scott in Florida, this issue changes. Now you have to decide when is more important to you, the folk who will get these benefits or do you cater to the Tea Party? Those two have made their decision, they will abandon the working poor in order to keep their Tea Party supporters happy.

So, they literally don’t give 10 cents for the poor to get the dollar from the national government for their welfare.

That’s really sick, but it keeps you in with the Koch brothers, Karl Rove and the super PACs.

Just how do they define public servants?


Go here to see Scott Walker's position and here to see Rick Scott's position.