DeSantis Forced to Say Why He Enjoys Denying Health Insurance to Poor Floridians

[Demovictory9]

DeSantis Forced to Say Why He Enjoys Denying Health Insurance to Poor Floridians The banality of “normal” American conservatism briefly surfaces.

The backdrop is that the Affordable Care Act provided health insurance to poor people by expanding Medicaid. A conservative Supreme Court ruling gave states the right to opt out of the expansion, turning down free funding from Washington if they wished.
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Florida is now one of only ten states that reject Medicaid expansion. DeSantis almost never has to explain or justify this position. Shockingly, he had to do so at the debate.

Stuart Varney asked DeSantis why 2.5 million Floridians lack health insurance, which is a rate much higher than the national average. (Florida ranks fourth from the bottom in residents with health insurance). DeSantis first tried deflecting the problem to overall inflation:

DESANTIS:

Well, I think this is a symptom of our overall economic decline. Everything has gotten more expensive. You see insurance rates going through the roof. People that are going to get groceries, I’ve spoken with a woman in Iowa. And she said, you know, for the first time in my life, I’m having to take things out of my grocery cart when I get to the checkout line …

But then, DeSantis proceeded to give something like an explanation for his position:

“Our state’s a dynamic state. We’ve got a lot of folks that come. Of course, we’ve had a population boom.

We also don’t have a lot of welfare benefits, in Florida. We’re basically saying we want to — this is a field of dreams, you can do well in the state. But we’re not going to be like California and have massive numbers of people on government programs without work requirements. We believe in your work, and you got to do that. And so, that goes for all the welfare benefits.

And you know what that’s done, Stuart? Our unemployment rate is the lowest, amongst any big state. We have the highest GDP growth events (ph) of any big state. And even CNBC, no fan of mine, ranked Florida the No. 1 economy in America.”

In the middle of this word salad, some coherent thought can be extracted. Florida is a “field of dreams.” It rejects “welfare benefits.” DeSantis never uttered the word “Medicaid” or “Obamacare,” which explains why his state’s citizens lack health insurance at such high levels. Yet he did manage to express his belief that health insurance ought to be an earned benefit, not a right. If people get jobs working in construction or day care or at a convenience store, and those jobs do not have employer-provided health insurance, the state should not step in. Those people should work harder.

https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2023/09/desantis-why-i-enjoy-denying-health-care-to-poor-floridians.html

[Chainfire]

1. Florida is in the top ten states for its population receiving some sort of benefits.

Along with the rest of the Deep South States. There are two Floridas rich and poor. For every Palm Beach County there is a Jefferson, Gadsden, or Franklin County; places where the poverty level is around 25% of the population. DeSantis represents the rich part of the state and the rest can just suck eggs.

[Best_man23]

2. "And even CNBC, no fan of mine"

Funny he should say that, because most of the hosts on CNBC like Joe Kernan are pro Republicant. One of them must have gotten under Gubner Noun/Verb & Woke's onion thin skin.

[Timeflyer]

3. He just oozes the opposite of empathy.

[AltairIV]

4. Ranked economies

Florida's economy is not ranked #1 in America, it ranks 4th behind California, Texas and New York.