Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant Opposes Medicaid Expansion In Case Obamacare Is Repealed

[DonViejo]

Source: TPM

SAHIL KAPUR – JANUARY 2, 2014, 12:10 PM EST

Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant, a Republican, says he doesn't want to expand Medicaid because Obamacare, he argues, might be repealed or altered in a way that forces states to pay the cost.

“For us to enter into an expansion program would be a fool's errand," he told the Associated Press in an interview. "I mean, here we would be saying to 300,000 Mississippians, ‘We're going to provide Medicaid coverage to you,' and then the federal government through Congress or through the Senate, would do away with or alter the Affordable Care Act, and then we have no way to pay that. We have no way to continue the coverage."

It's a novel argument based on an unrealistic hypothetical. GOP efforts to repeal or dismantle the core components of Obamacare have repeatedly failed. Some Republican governors who have rejected the expansion have suggested that the federal government won't ultimately provide the funds the law requires it to.

Bryant also responded to an argument by Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer, a Republican who adopted the expansion, that turning it down would harm hospitals by raising the cost of uncompensated care.

:::snip:::

Read more: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/phil-bryant-medicaid-expansion

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My oldest son just informed me we have night lights brighter than this Governor.

[JustAnotherGen]

1. Your oldest son

Is a wise wise man!

[freshwest]

10. +1

[giftedgirl77]

2. How many times are do we have to go over this?

Ted Cruz's dumb ass sent out another tweet pushing for full repeal, I mean really? Are they going to try & run on this? They truly are idiots.

[sakabatou]

3. *facedesk*

[SoapBox]

4. ...what a stupid fuck.

[mitty14u2]

5. Mississippians without Health Insurance

More than one out of three people (37.1 percent) in Mississippi under the age of 65 went without health insurance for all or part
of the two-year period 2007-2008 (see chart). Of the 950,000 uninsured Mississippians, more than three-quarters (75.6 percent) went without health coverage for for six months or longer during this period.

Likelihood of Mississippians under Age 65 Being Uninsured During 2007-2008, by Race and Hispanic Origin
White 1,390,000 Not Insured 390,000 28.1%, African 1,001,000 Not Insured 468,000 46.7%

http://familiesusa2.org/assets/pdfs/americans-at-risk/mississippi.pdf

Voter Suppression Hits Mississippi

Earlier in 2011, the legislative redistricting committees proposed newly drawn legislative district lines to conform with the population shifts recorded during the 2010 U.S. census. A fairly honest Republican- authored Senate version was torpedoed by Tea Party Governor Phil Bryant, who had a new proposal full of “packing” Black voters into legislative districts, robbing white rural Democrats of Black voters who have pressured their white legislators into supporting more progressive legislative proposals.

The 2011 election resulted in Democrats losing control of both chambers of the legislature, and only one white Democrat serving in a statewide political office — Attorney General Jim Hood, who in fact is the only statewide elected official who is a Democrat anywhere in the South.

Since white people began fleeing the Democratic Party over racial issues nearly 50 years ago, the electoral picture has shifted so that being a white voter in Mississippi almost equates with being Republican. During the 2011 election 90% of white voters supported Gov. Phil Bryant, the Republican incumbent, while 97% of Black voters supported Johnny Dupree, the African American Democrat.


http://www.solidarity-us.org/site/node/3810

The only thing that can stop T Bagging Republicans is Voting, So they just use every damn thing possible to stop them from Voting, America the lost land of the Free and the Home of the redistricting, Ta Da, We Win!

[Bluzmann57]

6. In other words...

This guy has little connection with reality. "Obamacare" isn't going anywhere and in fact may even be improved upon over time. Good grief! Isn't it time that the repukes saw this and tried to start another (losing) fight?

[madrchsod]

7. unless the supremes overturns their own decision the aca is here to stay...

your son is correct.

[Javaman]

8. so by the logic of this right wing halfwit...

it's better not to help anyone than to help even some for a short time.