In response to the Supreme Court’s recent decision to allow states to opt out of the Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act, at least 15 governors have voiced their opposition. Gov. Nikki Haley logged on Facebook to make known her stance against the expansion.
She wrote: “South Carolina will NOT expand Medicaid, or participate in any health exchanges. We will not support Pres. Obama's tax increase or job killing agenda. I WILL do everything I can to get Mitt Romney elected and work to strengthen our Senate so that we can repeal this unAmerican policy aimed at moving our country in the wrong direction.”
South Carolina Democrats and industry professionals are concerned — but not surprised.
“If George Bush hated black people, then Nikki Haley hates poor people,” said outgoing S.C. Rep. Boyd Brown, D-Fairfield. “It makes me sick.”
Brown said that the politicians that often cite Christian morals and principles are the ones cutting funding to the poor people who need it most.
"I can't think of anything further unChristian than cutting funding to the people who need it," he added.
“It’d do her some good to see exactly what Medicaid does. It baffles me that she’s against it, but no, I’m not surprised."
Dick Harpootlian, chairman of the S.C. Democratic Party, said: “This is a preening politician’s publicity stunt and is typical with Nikki Haley. This is petty and foolish and is about Haley trying to get a job in D.C.”
Harpootlian said he thinks the governor is putting politics before the people of South Carolina.
“She’s using the misery of the people of South Carolina as a springboard to get to Romney,” he said.
Health care economist consultant Lynn Bailey of local firm Lynn Bailey Associates said she, too, anticipated Haley’s reaction.
“Are we surprised that our governor would throw the poorest of the poor under the bus?” she asked. “Not at all.”
Bailey said that if the legislature follows through with opting out of the program, the people who will hurt the most are poor people who do not currently fall into one of the Medicaid categories.
“Is that the kind of state we want? No, but it’s the kind we get.”
The combination federal-state program expansion extends Medicaid enrollment eligibility to those under 65 at or below 133 percent of the federal poverty line. Coverage would include those adults making about $15,000 or less per year, or about $31,000 or less for a family of four, according to federal poverty guidelines.
Federal law requires state Medicaid programs cover low-income mothers, children and pregnant woman as defined by federal guidelines. States may choose to extend service to the low income elderly or people with disabilities.
The first three years of the expansion, beginning 2014, would be fully funded by federal dollars with at least 90 percent covered federally each year thereafter. This would insure anywhere from 335,000 to more than 500,000 South Carolina residents and provide a 56 percent reduction in the total number of uninsured adults.
Tony Keck, S.C. director of Medicaid, said an expansion of coverage is not what the state needs. Keck is also the director of the S.C. Department of Health and Human Services, as chosen by Haley in January 2011.
“What we’re saying is as long as the Medicaid system is as broken as it is, it doesn’t make sense to expand to coverage,” he said. “The governor and I work on those policies together, so you know, that’s how we feel about it.”
Keck said that instead of taking on new beneficiaries, S.C. Medicaid should work to enroll those eligible under current state program requirements.
“We share the goal of getting everyone healthy, but you gotta pay for it. We wanna make sure that we fix the [current] healthcare system before we dive in and try to fix a system that hasn’t produced great results,” he said. “The money has to come from somewhere.”
According to a detailed report by the Kaiser Family Foundation, the Medicaid expansion would require a 3.6 to 4.7 percent increase, or an extra $470 million to $615 million, in Medicaid spending from 2014 to 2019. In 2010, federal and state spending on Medicaid totaled more than $5.1 billion. South Carolina paid about 20% of that bill, or about $1.1 billion.
Graph and statistical information in this article were provided, with permission, by the Kaiser Family Foundation, a non-profit foundation dedicated to health care information and analysis.
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I mean, this dumbfvck thinks that empathy is a bad thing, that reverse psychology works on people over 6 years old, and that an elipsis (with an inexplicable extra period) would follow a comma. That is what passes for representation of the "Grand Ole Party" these days? Jesus wept.
What is the healthcare industries incentive to provide healthcare to everyone who needs it, to lower costs, or to cure disease? There is none, because the current model is so profitable and that is their objective. It's morally wrong to put profit before people.
The elipsis is the three (and only three) periods following an incomplete thought in writing, with the elipsis indicating that the reader will know what was to follow. People often wrongly use it to indicate a long pause which is kind of what you did, although you botched that too. Oh, and 3/4 of the population of SC were never on welfare, you can probably add math to the ever growing list of things you're terrible at.
If you're going to attack my mom be accurate at least and creative if you can. My mom put herself through college and has worked as a nurse for 30 + years. For instance, I hope your mother gets raped by cancer. See, accurate AND funny.
I went to public school and then joined the Navy, btw. I wasn't homeschooled, no college. Being educated is the responsibility of every individual. Individual responsibility. Hey, that used to be a conservative value!
Did she pay out of pocket for every last bit of her treatment. Did she take responsibility or did she take "welfare?" Just curious where your hypocrisy ends.
apropos of nothing thanks for the 'elipsis' information...i probably use it wrongly (sometime use four)...didn't even know what it was...picked it up from celine's novels...
i dunno...perhaps ask the mitt how they did it in MA and ask the western Europeans how they do it... perhaps USA will take the next step and go to a single payer plan...oh my gawd universal health care...socialized medicine...
I had to take it WAY past the line to show you that you don't know much anything about anything. Why is hysterical hyperbole the only thing you guys understand anymore? Rational conversation doesn't even register. It's scary and sad.
[CLIPS] “As a doctor, I[bill frist] strongly believe that people without health insurance die sooner. Sure, they can eventually go to an emergency room. But it is often too late. They wait longer to get a breast lump checked out. They wait until their nagging cough turns into a fulminant pneumonia. They skip preventive care and then show up to the ER with severe, costly, late-stage symptoms that are harder and more expensive to treat,” he wrote. “State exchanges are the solution. They represent the federalist ideal of states as "laboratories for democracy." We are seeing 50 states each designing a model that is right for them, empowered to take into account their individual cultures, politics, economies, and demographics. While much planning has yet to be done, we are already seeing a huge range in state models. I love the diversity and the innovation. … Simply put, state exchanges represent a distinctly American opportunity to improve our local communities and at the same time help our nation avert a major crisis. Let's take the plunge.” [for rest of story goto link] http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-pn-bill-frist-calls-for-gop-to-get-over-opposition-to-healthcare-law-20120718,0,7684527.story
shucks...guess i can give up my aspirations to be another e.e. cummings...maybe a joyce:) tho, 'as frankly i found his entire 'finnegans wake' awful to read' (gave up, may try again)...weel at least 'jj and me' have something in common: some people find us awful to read...