The shame of Mississippi, where racism and stupidity killed Obamacare

[Newsjock]

Source: Los Angeles Times

... "There are wide swaths of Mississippi where the Affordable Care Act is not a reality,” Conner Reeves, who led Obamacare enrollment at the University of Mississippi Medical Center, told me when we met in the state capital of Jackson. Of the nearly 300,000 people who could have gained coverage in Mississippi in the first year of enrollment, just 61,494 — some 20 percent — did so. When all was said and done, Mississippi would be the only state in the union where the percentage of uninsured residents has gone up, not down."

The author, Kaiser Health News correspondent Sarah Varney, ascribes the state's failure to errors, ignorance, racism and tea party-style ideology, among other distasteful qualities. The majority of the 138,000 Mississippians left stranded by the state's refusal to opt in to Medicaid expansion are black. Hospitals, which were counting on the expansion to make up for federal funding they'll be losing as the ACA takes hold, are unable to serve the uninsured even as charity cases.

What makes Mississippi typical among Medicaid-refusing states is that its health statistics are dismal. What makes it stand out is that its socio-economic statistics are the worst in the nation. Varney again: "It's hard to find a list where Mississippi doesn’t rank last: Life expectancy. Per capita income. Children’s literacy."

Even before opting out of Medicaid expansion, the state's Medicaid standards were medieval. Adults aren't eligible unless their household income is 22% of the federal poverty line or less. For a family of four, that's $5,544 a year. Only one state is lower: Alabama.

Read more: http://www.latimes.com/business/hiltzik/la-fi-mh-the-shame-of-mississippi-20141029-column.html

[Wellstone ruled]

1. Seems this model was the

go to in most of the States that fought ACA or used some model of Health Care that basically kept their non Rethug voters who are in poverty or in need of basic health needs in a financial straight jacket. This is done strickly to control any decent by controlling the wealth and movement of their political opposition base. Also notice that in these states,most of the insurance is controlled by a single person or a company with ties to the Rethugs. Old saying rules here,I got the money.

[bmac19gg]

2. read the entire article....

....then went and read the article that this one was citing....

....could not find the racism.

All I found was the tired sentiment that being against The ACA makes one instantly and irrevocably a racist. The point of Mississippi fighting against Obamacare is that people, all people, wont benefit. Why is it so important that every attempt be made to find some racial angle to play as if it would be somehow acceptable for only Whites went without health insurance.

What do these talking heads and blogging wannabe journalists think of us, that we're unable to be concerned about something unless a Black or Brown person is involved? I feel like I'm being treated like a puppet.

sorry4rant

[nruthie]

3. Are you a resident of Mississippi?