How much more abuse from Republican politicians are Americans willing to put up with?
Texas Gov. Rick Perry said Monday he will not implement ‘Obamacare’ provisions such as the Medicaid expansion and the insurance exchanges. The decision could mean that Texas ultimately loses an opportunity to cover half of its uninsured residents and relinquishes to the federal government more control over its health care system.
After informing the Obama administration of his intentions in a letter, Perry went on Fox News to explain his position. “If anyone had any doubt, we wanted to put it clearly to bed that Texas wasn’t going to be a part of expanding socializing of our medicine,” he said. “So we’re not going to participate in any exchanges. We’re not going to expand Medicaid.”
One in four Texans are uninsured, the highest rate of any state. The Medicaid expansion would cover 49.4 percent of uninsured Texans by 2019, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. The program is broadened to cover Americans within 133 percent of the poverty line — currently the eligibility for a working Texan parent cuts off at 27 percent. The federal government will cover the full cost of the first three years and pay 90 percent thereafter.
Sad. You’ve got to feel for the people of Texas that they’re stuck with this ignorant prick for a governor. When asked what his decision means for the one in four Texans who have no health insurance, Perry said:
We’ve got some of the finest health care in the world. So the idea that this federal government, which doesn’t like Texas to begin with, to pick and choose and come up with some data and say somehow Texas has the worst health care system in the world is just fake and false on its face.
Typical response from a conservative who doesn’t like hard data or evidence that does not support his own delusional beliefs. Claim the data false, attack those who produced the data and then deflect the discussion in some unrelated way. Debate over.
Let’s be clear – if you’re an American and part of the lower 95 percent of wager earners who are intending on voting for any Republican this November, then you are either a terribly misinformed citizen or a terribly ignorant individual…or both. And if you are in that top 5 percent and plan on voting Republican, then you are either a terribly misinformed citizen or a heartless bastard…or both.
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There are certain things which should never be entrusted to the private sector simply because neither the “general welfare” guaranteed to be promoted in the preamble of the Constitution nor the “life, liberty and pursuit of happiness” proclaimed as unalienable rights in the Declaration of Independence are compatible with the profit motive.
Health care is one of those things. To do otherwise is to place a dollar value on life and to arbitrarily declare that some lives are worth more than others.
Law enforcement and public safety are two other areas that should never be left to the private sector. When crimes are committed or a house is on fire, what difference should it make who the victim is or what the dollar value of the house or property? When prisons are run by the state, the state has a vested interest in letting people serve their appointed sentences and resume their place in society. Not so for private prisons; they profit by keeping beds filled and they do this with kickbacks to corrupt officials by arbitrarily enforcing arcane internal regulations to extend prisoner sentences and by lobbying for more and more crimininalization of currently legal behavior. There’s lots more tosay on this, but there’s not enough room here.
It’s naive and downright ridiculous to assume that privatization of public services serves the people. Those who have read my past comments regarding private health insurance already know how I feel about that. When I think about just how broken the system really is and then hear people like Perry call it the “finest in the world” I am thoroughly disgusted. If it’s so great, why is US life expectancy falling, why is there an increase in infant mortality and why are so many Americans going bankrupt to pay medical bills? We are falling behind the other industrialized nations in each of those areas (and probably more), and people like Perry are denying Americans their chance to excel.
When the notion of American exceptionalism comes up, this quote is my favorite reply:
“I don’t believe in ‘My country right or wrong’. My country wrong needs my help.”
— Peter Halsten Thorkelson
To answer your rhetorical question, E.A., it is the best healthcare system in the world if you’re an affluent American able to purchase top notch insurance and not be dependent on some healthcare insurance flunky to ok a medical procedure we desperately need. For Rick Perry, it is the best healthcare system in the world. For the majority of Texans it’s not but Rick doesn’t care. He’s got his and as far as he’s concerned, that’s all that counts.
Way to go E.A. your comments are always spot on…
Ever thought about writing a column on Huff or someplace…???
Rick Perry – digusting chunk of effluvia. Back when he was threatening Texas’ secession from the U.S., the media was “Waah-Waah-ing” all over the place. That’s when I had an “Ah-HAH!” moment: Supposing Texas DID secede; how long does Perry think it would take for our federal government to close every military base in the state? Remember when France threw us out? We vacated every base we had, there, and blew up all the air base runways. Vacating Texas bases would totally decimate the Texas economy, and look at the billions of defense dollars we would save. Not to mention all the other federal agencies’ facilities – how many thousands of employees would be instantly unemployed? Texas would be plunged into economic chaos, and with no federal safety net, millions of pissed-off voters would be marching on the capitol in Austin, looking for Perry’s scalp. Couldn’t happen to a nicer guy.
@cathy
How about thinking about my question in a non-rhetorical way; what good is a public service if it does not equally serve all? Do we only pave the streets or keep the street lights on in certain parts of town? If the traditional standards of health in the US are declining (in those areas I mentioned and others) then by definition it is not the best.
Jean Gimpel, a historian of technology, once wrote that America’s abandonment of the competition to produce the first SST was also the first significant sign that, as a competitive nation, the US entered its first great period of decline. It marked the transition from a product-based economy to a service-based economy. Banks ceased dealing with money as a real commodity and just started shuffling paper from one account folder to another. Along with all that, our standards of health started to decline. To paraphrase Merle Travis (or George Davis, if you prefer), we shall someday owe our souls to the company store.
There are always people who will arrogantly assume that money and posessions automatically entitle one to privelege and power (consider the remarks thrown around at Romney’s weekend fundraisers). Thurston Howell III may have been an amusing character for a cheesy sitcom but he’s not a nice neighbor or political donor. Perry is only a pale imitation of the role that Jim Backus had down pat.
@steve
Thank you. I can but try, and while I do have my moments of relative brilliance, I’m not sure I could sustain them on a consistent enough basis to do a column. Enough people have suggested that I do so, however, that the thought does stay with me.
First Rick will need the approval (and, depending upon their campaign contributors, may not receive it) of the Texas State legislature.
If their are heavily influenced (political contributions) by the medical community in Texas – particularly the hospital system – they may not agree with him.
The next problem he’s going to have is the exchanges – as the law provides the feds to step in and create them, if the states do not. So big bad on Ricky is going to let the feds step onto his state turf and do the job for him?
I think there’s a lot of braggadocio going on here that several of these “Governors” (how I loathe calling them that) may have to back off on after the election, if Obama wins. They’re all betting on taking control of all the reins of government so they can get the law repealed. It’s unlikely they take the Senate regardless of the House or the White House. They’ll never get the repeal through the Senate unless they gain control.
I hope American comes to its senses and gives all these morons the boot – the sooner the better. I fear they’ve had too much Kool-Aid already though.
Rick has been on “socialized medicine” his entire adult life.
What about the food industry, E.A.? Everyone needs to eat. Nationalizing the food industry would also serve the public good.
If the answer is, “competition for profits within the food industry is what keeps prices low by creating large supplies”, why isn’t the same true of the health care industry?
I don’t like the HMO, third party payer, type of system. I think health insurance should be for major medical only. I think routine visits should be paid by the consumers, who will shop for the best prices. Suppliers will taylor business models to fill all levels of demographics. The market will always find the money, it always does.
Of course, extreme low income consumers will still have their bill covered by the govt (just because that’s who we are). Common sense government regulations will also continue to protect the public, as they do for the food industry.
Is that way of thinking too simplistic? If so, in whose best interest is it to be so complicated?