The seeds are being planted now to "Expand Medicaid in Texas"

[mc51tc]

State economists, doctors, hospitals, and now the very conservative, Dallas Citizens Council, are calling for Texas to expand Medicaid coverage under the Affordable Care Act.

http://www.dallasnews.com/news/columnists/steve-blow/20140412-blow-medicaid-expansion-is-just-good-business-for-texas.ece

"You know the world is topsy-turvy when the Dallas Citizens Council comes out on the liberal side of a debate.

For that matter, you know these are strange days when the Citizens Council comes out publicly for anything at all. Though not the semi-secret cabal it once was, the high-powered organization still prefers to work behind the scenes.

But there, for everyone to see, was the recent guest column in this newspaper written by Citizens Council president Alice Murray. And of all things, it called for the expansion of Medicaid in Texas.

And in the current state of Texas politics, that’s akin to subletting the Alamo.

Now, I’m sure the venerable Citizens Council would prefer that its position be categorized as something other than liberal. A common-sense position, say. Or as enlightened conservatism.
And, yes, it strikes me as both of those things.

But Texas being Texas, and Dallas being Dallas, Murray’s guest column made clear how the Citizens Council sees the controversial Medicaid expansion. And that’s as good for bidness.

“An expansion of Medicaid is beneficial for business and a positive for our state’s future,” the column concluded. “We are hopeful other business groups will join us in a united front to tackle this issue.”

Hey, whatever works. I might have started with the humane and moral arguments first.
But if good-for-business gets the job done, so be it."

A sad Texas tale: "And if it was mostly a business decision at the start, some of the mail Murray has been receiving certainly puts flesh and blood to the issue.

“I received one impassioned letter from a married mother of two. Without Medicaid expansion, she has no way to get insured. And now she has progressive multiple sclerosis. Oh, it’s such a sad story,” she said.

There is indeed a cruel twist to the current situation. The Affordable Care Act created insurance marketplaces and subsidized premiums for low-income Americans — but only for those above the poverty level."

"Yes, there is a compelling case to be made for expanding Medicaid simply as the humane thing to do.

But if dollars make more sense to you, then the Dallas Citizens Council wants you to think about the difference that an extra $10 billion to $15 billion in federal funds could make for the state.

That’s the amount we will be giving up if the Texas Legislature doesn’t expand Medicaid for 2016 and 2017. Texas has already given up nearly $8 billion by rejecting Medicaid expansion for this year and next year.

Waco economist Ray Perryman has said “it is beyond question” that Texas should participate. And now the Dallas Citizens Council says so, too."

I predict that Texas will take the Medicaid Expansion by 2016. It has no choice. Take that Ted Cruz and Rick Perry! Unfortunately, how many will die before it happens!

[mc51tc]

1. Medicaid expansion in Texas

will happen even faster when Wendy Davis is the next Texas Governor.

[Schema Thing]

2. And she should already have that as a centerpiece of her campaign

It bothers me a little that she doesn't.

[DhhD]

19. IMO, the elected Republican Texas Legislators knew what they were doing when they decided

Texas Taxpayers would pick up the bill for indigent care instead of allowing the Texas Income Tax to be returned to the State in the form of Expanded Medicaid at 100% until 2020 and at 90% after that. And in 2020, 10% would be a very much less than what Texas taxpayers are footing now. People will be a lot healthier. You can see that the GOP cares very little for their constituents.

IMO, Republican voters are to blame if they re-elect GOP candidates back into the Legislature, this November. I wish any and all Texans voting for GOP would have to pick up the new huge tax hikes coming as a County Hospital District Tax Bill, this Fall.

The shit ain't hit the fan yet! Wait until those bills come out in the mail across the State of Texas. Wendy Davis is going to have to wait for those new increased tax bills to arrive before reminding Texans what the GOP has done for them. Conservative Texans were warned by President Obama and Secretary Sibelius several times, but they chose to kiss up to lawmakers like Gregg Abbott, that could give a crap less about them.

[madville]

3. Still at the whim of the legislature

The Texas governor has very little power and it's doubtful the legislature will flip anytime soon.

She would be able to veto some of the craziness that gets passed though.

[mc51tc]

5. Big, powerful business

will make this decision for Texas whomever the next leaders are in the state. Money talks unfortunately.

[IronLionZion]

20. That was the case in VA

Terry McAuliffe campaigned for governor on medicaid expansion and won but the repugnant house of delegates is blocking it for purely political reasons.

[misterhighwasted]

6. Agree. Changing of the guard will happen in Texas just as history demands. The thing that will

trigger this forward movement is the ACA. The mass of people it has affected on a personal level and how they have become enlightened as to the irresponsible & unfair actions of the Perry admin will indeed change the political color of the State.
Perry's GOP decision to deny Med expansion to their residents & deny the State its generous ACA funds, hits very close to home on a personal level that will show itself at the polls. Wendy may be the beneficiary of Perry's Red State ignorance this time around.

Denying Med expansion may be the Texas Gop's Waterloo indeed.

[gulliver]

4. Texas is losing billions to give Rick Perry a debate line...

...that he's going to flub. Sucks to be Texas.

[misterhighwasted]

7. Sucks to be GOP in Texas, rather.

They've tied themselves to a sinking ship with Med expansion denial.

Good Luck Blue State Wendy. Change will come to Texas. People have had enough.

[ChisolmTrailDem]

8. Rick Perry, Ted Cruz, and the Texas republifuck confederate party should all be charged

with 1st Degree Murder for every single person who dies between now and 2016 who could have been treated and saved if they had had access to that $8 Billion those traitors turned down.

[napkinz]

14. GOP Death Panels ...

[ChisolmTrailDem]

16. WOW! Thanks for the ammo, napkinz! nt

[UTUSN]

9. Bwah-hah, "It's a business decision -- I would have started with the humane/moral arguments FIRST"!1

[TexasTowelie]

10. I hope that this makes a difference and soon.

I fell between the cracks for receiving Medicaid and other forms of social services help. It's amazing because 3 years ago I paid over $16K in federal taxes when I received my severance pay after being laid off.

It's a tough economy and I'm considered over-qualified for most of the open positions that I'm applying for each day. Hopefully some sanity will overcome the stubborness of this Repuke legislature.

[TxDemChem]

15. So glad to see your post today!

I, too, hope sanity prevails. It's sad that the only language they seem to speak is greenback.

[TexasTowelie]

18. Thanks for the support.

Trying hard to get my act together.

[TxDemChem]

27. You just take it easy and get all better.

And please send a warm thanks to your sister. It was nice of her to let us all know you hadn't been feeling so great.

[lavenderdiva]

25. Hi TexasTowelie

my husband and I both live in Houston, and fell between the cracks on the ACA too. Because we don't have children, we make too much to qualify for Medicaid as it is now, and too little to qualify for ACA. Unless Perry decides to expand Medicaid, we don't have any health insurance options available to us. Husband is 2 years too young to get Medicare. Neither of our jobs offers health insurance, and we certainly can't afford the out-of-pocket premiums that accrue from being 56 and 64.

DH went online to try to get us ACA, but was told instead that we now have a letter to present to the IRS, to show that we can't have ACA because we live in Texas, and Perry didn't expand medicaid. So at least we don't have to incur the penalty that would normally apply.

[merrily]

11. Governor "What was the third thing" Perry praised Billarycare.

I am assuming that was because of the resemblance between HeritageFoundationCare and Billarycare.

http://firstread.nbcnews.com/_news/2011/08/31/7539843-outlines-of-hillarycare-were-known-before-perry-wrote-letter-praising-reform-effort

Guess he changed what passes for his mind.

[Bandit]

21. What exactly is the resemblance between Hillary's proposal and the Heritage Foundation's?

The Heritage Foundation came up with their proposal as an alternative to what Hillary had designed. Hillary's relied almost entirely upon Employers providing Health Insurance and Republicans (Heritage Foundation) wanted the burden to be on the individual, hence the MANDATE. I was not a fan of either Hillary's proposal or Anything Republicans have come up with. I believe Health Care is entirely the Responsibility of the Government. Government's entire purpose is to maintain the Health and Welfare of the Nation.

[merrily]

28. The history of HeritageFoundationcare starts with Nixon's plan, not Billarycare.

Nixon's plan never got anywhere-a story in itself to which Ted Kennedy owned up before he passed. (He stopped Carter's plan, too.) http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/09/16/jimmy-carter-ted-kennedy-health-insurance_n_720356.html

However, the Nixon plan had an employer mandate--and no individual mandate. I never studied the plan proposed during the Clinton administration, but I believe that it was similar to Nixon's, but with some penalties to employees who did not cooperate? Anyway, for my purposes, the plan proposed during the Clinton years has been pretty much mooted by subsequent events.

A group of conservatives, known as the Jackson Hole group, was horrified by the employer mandate, but believed that a national plan of some kind was inevitable. They developed a plan that relied on an individual mandate, and no employer mandate. Their model was what the Heritage Foundation used.

You can do more googling if you wish, but this Forbes article allude to what I am saying about the Jackson Hole Group by mentioning that the Jackson Hole Plan of 1992 built on what that group had been doing for years. The years alluded to are the years after Nixon's plan shocked the right of his party. http://www.forbes.com/sites/theapothecary/2012/02/07/the-tortuous-conservative-history-of-the-individual-mandate/

The key issue is, and has always been, the individual mandate, whether it's HeritageFoundationCare, Billarycare, Romneycare, Hillarycare or Obamacare. http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2012/mar/25/switching-sides-individual-mandate/

And, bringing things to what is most relevant now, the individual mandate was also the main difference (that the public knew of) between the plan proposed by Obama in the 2008 primary and the one Hillary campaigned against Obama on. In 2008, Hillary claimed that an individual mandate was essential to any plan; while Obama campaigned on a strong public option and no individual mandate.

An article seeking to show that Obamacare has nothing to do with Heritage Foundation care claimed the only similarity between the two plans is the individual mandate. I have no idea if that is so, but duh, that's huge.

As an aside, if your belief is that government should be providing Medicare for all (or better), your problems obviously are not limited to what Republicans come up with.

I mention that because my pet issue is that we, the people, need to stop focusing so very much on the differences between Democrats and Republicans. While some say that both parties are alike, differences do exist. However, plenty of people get paid big, big bucks to publicize those differences. For this post, anyway, I will leave that to them.

The important thing for me, though, is not the differences between the two largest political parties. I think we should focus on what we, the people need and deserve from government and how we can get it. And, no, I don't believe "how we can get it" is fully answered by "Vote Democratic." (On the federal level, I think the aftermath of the elections of 2006 and 2008 spoke volumes about that subject.)

But, all of the above is way, way over the pay grade of my prior post. The only point that I had in my prior post was Perry's having gushed over Billarycare. IOW, he was for a national health plan before he was against it. I meant only to comment on his hypocrisy and stupidity, the latter being covered by "I forgot the third thing."

[Downwinder]

12. Texas needs weeding not seeding.

[Gman]

13. OTOH

How many will eventually live that wouldn't otherwise once it's done?

[napkinz]

17. kick

nt

[Dustlawyer]

22. With Texas money comes 1st as usual! This is why outgoing (hurray) Gov., Rick "The Dick" Perry

is now in favor of decriminalizing pot. They see the $ Colorado is making and they gotta have it! He says they need to empty the prisons and try treatment for addiction instead!
I have just one question, did Hell freeze over?

[mc51tc]

24. That`s why he changed his tune on the Telsa electric car

Texas forbids Telsa Motors to work with established dealers in the state. However, when Perry found out that Texas was on the list for the new battery plant that will employ 6,500, he changed his mind regarding the rules in the state. Big money is all that matters to Gov. Perry and others unfortunately.

[Arugula Latte]

23. They should just change the name to ReaganFreedomGodlyAmuricaAid

and they'll institute it in no time.

[Lint Head]

26. And Rick Perry is going to prison for bribery.