09.06.13

More of the same

Posted in Around The State, Bad Government Republicans, Had Enough Yet?, Health Care at 11:22 am by wcnews

This is not good.

A new Census Bureau report documents the alarming percentages of people in Texas and Florida without health insurance. Leaders of both states should hang their heads in shame because they have been among the most resistant in the nation to providing coverage for the uninsured under the Affordable Care Act, the law that Republicans deride as “Obamacare.”

[…]

The report found that more than 25 percent of the population in Texas under age 65 (5.7 million people) was uninsured, the highest rate in the nation. Florida was a close second, with just under 25 percent uninsured (3.8 million people).

[…]

In Texas, Gov. Rick Perry and Republican legislators have strongly opposed the Medicaid expansion and refused to establish a state-run exchange, the smoothest way to coordinate state and federal programs and provide subsidies to middle-income residents. They contend that the state has other ways to deal with the uninsured, but there’s little reason to believe them given the state’s long history of failing to help and persistent complaints from medical and patient advocacy groups. [Emphasis added]

This is the GOP brand in Texas - blame the federal government and do nothing to help poor, working and middle class Texans. They believe that anything that directly helps people of Texas is a waste. And that anything that directly helps corporations or their wealthy donors, and may somewhere down the line help someone else - aka corporate welfare or so-called public private partnerships - is a great idea. Turning down the Medicaid expansion will only help those who right big checks and don’t want more Medicaid competition in Texas, Premiums going up in Texas? Blame Rick Perry.

This may cause some issues for the GOP as well, Obamacare Insurance Costs Affordable, Kaiser Survey Finds.

A 25-year-old New Yorker earning $25,000 a year will pay as little as $62 a month for health insurance next year, and a peer living in Vermont may pay nothing, according to a 17-state survey of premiums under the U.S. health-care overhaul.

The Kaiser Family Foundation report is the broadest look yet at what consumers will pay for health insurance when the Affordable Care Act takes full effect next year. The cost issue has been a top concern for President Barack Obama’s administration, which is trying to persuade at least 7 million Americans who now lack insurance to sign up for coverage starting Oct. 1.

If Obamacare actually works, and Texans aren’t able to take advantage of those savings, that would truly be the GOP’s worst nightmare come true. Which is the main reason they’ve been trying to sabotage it.

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