Texas Republicans Stand United Against Providing Low-Income People With Health Care

[ProSense]

Texas Republicans Stand United Against Providing Low-Income People With Health Care

By Tara Culp-Ressler

Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) and the state’s two Republican senators, John Cornyn and Ted Cruz, joined forces at the state capitol on Monday afternoon to reiterate their opposition to expanding the Medicaid program under Obamacare. Despite the fact that Texas could add about 1.5 million low-income people to its Medicaid rolls if lawmakers opted to expand the program, the state’s GOP leaders still refuse to do so.

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More than 25 percent of Texans don’t have health care, one of the highest rates of uninsurance in the United States. That’s partly because the state’s Medicaid program is currently one of the most restrictive — requiring a family of three to earn less than $5,000 per year, far below the federal poverty line, to qualify for public health insurance. But the Republicans in the state want to make it clear that’s not going to change anytime soon.

Although eight other GOP governors have now endorsed the health law’s optional Medicaid expansion, the GOP lawmakers in Texas are happy to buck that trend. “I am proud that Gov. Perry and other Texas leaders are standing strong to oppose Medicaid expansion under Obamacare, while so many other states are giving in,” Cruz said at Monday’s press conference. Earlier in the day, Cruz suggested that Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion is so expensive that it will prevent states from fully funding their prison systems and keeping violent criminals off the street.

Not everyone in Texas agrees with the Republican Party’s decision to reject Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion, however. A counter event — spearheaded by Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-TX), and his identical twin, San Antonio Mayor Julián Castro (D) — followed the governor’s press conference, as advocates for health care reform spoke out about the importance of expanding Texas’ social safety net. The Castro brothers were joined by a diverse coalition of faith-based organizations, labor groups, the Texas Hospital Association, and other Democratic lawmakers, all of whom have been lobbying for Medicaid expansion over the past several months.

http://thinkprogress.org/health/2013/04/01/1804541/texas-republicans-medicaid/

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HHS finalizes rule guaranteeing 100 percent funding for new Medicaid beneficiaries
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022584523

[Rex]

1. My state is such an embarrassment sometimes.

Repukes LOVE to hurt the poor...they make sport out of it!

[ProSense]

3. It's one of the states

that ceded control of the exchange to the federal government.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=2590673

[Newest Reality]

2. That's their job.

And they are doing it very well, I must say.

The checklist includes doing anything possible to control personal choices, (sex, drugs, etc.) and to vilify and persecute the underclass, (untouchables as they are known) as well as deny them what little they have or might get.

There has to be a scapegoat and and a big distraction because it would not work well if the real lackeys and corporate welfare queens were put under scrutiny. That is, especially when they are behind the scenes calling the shots. This is far more than ignorance or mean-spirited hatred for the destitute and underprivileged, the old and the sick. This is a proven tactic and also a divisive one.

Then they protect the "job creators" like drooling pitbulls while wagging their tails as the Koch Bros. and others pat them on the head and say, "Good boy!" The boardroom is always waiting with big paychecks in the end.

We really only have one enemy of the people and that is the economic terrorist who owns the media that makes them look good, beneficent, upright, upstanding, etc. You know, the compassionate conservative. Don't bust a rib laughing at that.

[ProSense]

4. Perry is a special case when it comes to

being nuts!

Rick Perry's post-policy approach to Medicaid

By Steve Benen

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The Lone Star State is literally dead last in the nation when it comes to the percentage of residents with health care insurance. Medicaid expansion is practically a godsend for a state in Texas' position -- it would bring coverage to 1.5 million low-income Texans and $90 billion in federal funding to state coffers. State hospitals have pleaded with the governor, urging him to accept the deal so they're not stuck with higher costs, but Perry, at least for now, doesn't care.

I generally don't expect much in the way of policy excellence from the Texas governor, but his position on Medicaid expansion is, for lack of a better word, kind of crazy.

Remember, Texas' health care system is already a national disgrace, with a jaw-dropping 28.8% of the population going without basic health insurance. But as Ezra Klein explained yesterday, Perry and his GOP allies are ignoring the life-preserver that's been thrown in their direction, are instead poised to make Texas' mess "much worse."

Right now, Texas doesn't offer Medicaid to poor, childless adults. The state's incredibly stingy Medicaid program is one reason it has so many uninsured residents. The Affordable Care Act would change all that, using Medicaid to cover all adults up to 133 percent of the federal poverty line -- and it would do it on the federal government's dime. Above 133 percent of poverty -- and until 400 percent of poverty -- residents would get subsidies to buy private insurance on the exchanges.

Here's the catch: Although Texas can legally refuse the Medicaid expansion, it can't opt out of the subsidies provided to encourage participation on the exchanges. So while a Texan making $13,000 might get no help with her health insurance, one making $23,000 might get the whole tab picked up by the feds. The possibilities for confusion -- and, once the situation becomes clear, anger -- are both obvious and immense.

Moreover, because Medicaid's expansion was conceived in part as a new source of revenue for hospitals, Obamacare ratchets back payments -- called "disproportionate share payments," or "DSH payments," in health wonk parlance -- that the federal government currently makes to providers who treat the uninsured. Texas, for instance, received almost $1 billion in DSH payments in 2011. Under Obamacare, they'll receive far, far less.

This is one of the reasons so many Republican governors looked at the facts and decided it'd be nuts to turn down Medicaid expansion -- the deal for states is just too good, and the needs of state hospitals is just too overwhelming.

- more -

http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2013/04/02/17569007-rick-perrys-post-policy-approach-to-medicaid

[Arcanetrance]

5. The sad part is they will be voted for again and again cause somehow they've convinced enough

of the poor to vote against themselves