"Voters should know who’s holding up their health care"
Voters should know whos holding up their health care
by Katrina vaden Heuvel at the Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/katrina-vanden-heuvel-voters-should-know-who-is-holding-up-their-health-care/2014/03/25/fd649356-b39d-11e3-b899-20667de76985_story.html
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..... On March 14, the states lieutenant governor sued the progressive group MoveOn.org over a billboard criticizing Gov. Bobby Jindals refusal to expand Medicaid in the state. The billboard uses Louisianas tourism slogan Pick Your Passion! and adds: But hope you dont lose your health. Gov. Jindals denying Medicaid to 242,000 people. The lawsuit claims that the MoveOn ad will result in substantial and irreparable harm, injury, and damages to the Louisiana tourism office as if denying health insurance to the neediest will not cause the state substantial and irreparable harm.
Legal experts say Jindals ploy has no chance of succeeding, thanks to the First Amendment. (This would be the same First Amendment that the governor passionately invoked in defense of Duck Dynasty patriarch Phil Robertsons right to spew racist and homophobic vitriol.)
Jindals reason for refusing to expand Medicaid is as specious as his reason for suing MoveOn. He claims, falsely, that the expansion would divert funds that now go to disabled individuals under traditional Medicaid. In reality, the health-care law doesnt harm the existing program. It creates several programs to improve care for the disabled receiving Medicaid; Jindal enrolled Louisiana in three of them. But this hasnt stopped him from blaming the ACA for his own bad policies, including cuts he made to state Medicaid funding for pregnant women.
Louisiana isnt the only state where Republicans are preventing thousands of low-income Americans from receiving health care. In Virginia, where state lawmakers refuse to expand Medicaid, hospitals will face higher costs and reduced services as a result. One million Texans will be denied access to coverage if the state continues to reject the Medicaid expansion. Meanwhile, Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant is willing to leave 300,000 of his neediest citizens uninsured. His reasoning? Hes afraid that the law might be repealed, leaving his state no way to meet its commitments an ironic stance for a Republican to take, since theyre the ones trying to repeal it!
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