Who Turned My Blue State Red?

[elleng]

Why poor areas vote for politicians who want to slash the safety net.

'IT is one of the central political puzzles of our time: Parts of the country that depend on the safety-net programs supported by Democrats are increasingly voting for Republicans who favor shredding that net.

In his successful bid for the Senate in 2010, the libertarian Rand Paul railed against “intergenerational welfare” and said that “the culture of dependency on government destroys people’s spirits,” yet racked up winning margins in eastern Kentucky, a former Democratic stronghold that is heavily dependent on public benefits. Last year, Paul R. LePage, the fiercely anti-welfare Republican governor of Maine, was re-elected despite a highly erratic first term — with strong support in struggling towns where many rely on public assistance. And earlier this month, Kentucky elected as governor a conservative Republican who had vowed to largely undo the Medicaid expansion that had given the state the country’s largest decrease in the uninsured under Obamacare, with roughly one in 10 residents gaining coverage.

It’s enough to give Democrats the willies as they contemplate a map where the red keeps seeping outward, confining them to ever narrower redoubts of blue. The temptation for coastal liberals is to shake their heads over those godforsaken white-working-class provincials who are voting against their own interests.

But this reaction misses the complexity of the political dynamic that’s taken hold in these parts of the country. It misdiagnoses the Democratic Party’s growing conundrum with working-class white voters. And it also keeps us from fully grasping what’s going on in communities where conditions have deteriorated to the point where researchers have detected alarming trends in their mortality rates.>>>

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/22/opinion/sunday/who-turned-my-blue-state-red.html?

[BlueJazz]

1. In the article "We don't want THEM to get something for free", referring to food stamps, welfare.

I would bet that very few of the populace that spout the above have any idea the huge amount of monies that are given to corporations thru taxes (or not paying taxes, I should say), paying workers low wages that force the workers to apply for assistance and food stamps plus causing many personal problems for the workers IE: Stress, ill health, mentally drained and all the unpleasantness that go with living a life in fear of becoming a non-essential being to society and worse...to one's own self of existence.

The people in the article have no idea how bad they're being treated by the rich.

[proverbialwisdom]

2. RE: Medicaid expansion

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/how-a-medicaid-law-may-impact-obamacare-enrollees/

By AIMEE PICCHI, MONEYWATCH, April 13, 2015, 2:32 PM
An unexpected after-death side effect of Obamacare

An old law may create a headache for some of the 11 million Americans who gained health coverage through the Affordable Care Act's (ACA) Medicaid expansion.

The estate recovery law allows states to recover Medicaid costs for patients who are older than 55 when they die, although some limits apply, such as exceptions for the disabled and hardship exemptions for survivors. The law is taking some newly enrolled Medicaid patients by surprise, but it's also prompting a few states to push back on the practice, according to The Wall Street Journal.

While the law has been around since 1993, it may be little known to many Medicaid recipients, who are nonelderly adults with incomes at or below 138 percent of the federal poverty level. That works out to about $16,245 for an individual in 2015. Even though Medicaid is thought of as a program to provide free health insurance to poor Americans, the estate recovery law was designed to shore up the program's finances by getting back some of what Medicaid spends on long-term care.

Some enrollees weren't aware of the program when they signed up, while others were given wrong information, PBS' NewsHour reported last month.

One couple, Ruth and Rod Morgan, told the news magazine they had heard about the estate recovery act and asked about it when they signed up in California's Medicaid program, but they were told that it wasn't the case.

"And then weeks later, we got a letter in the mail saying, congratulations, congratulations! You qualified for Medi-Cal. And then on the back page, this little paragraph says that you are subject to estate recovery, and do not contact your social worker about this," Ruth Morgan told NewsHour.

<>

http://obamacarefacts.com/medicaid-estate-recovery-facts-and-myths/

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/little-known-aspect-of-medicaid-now-causing-people-to-avoid-coverage/2014/01/23/deda52e2-794e-11e3-8963-b4b654bcc9b2_story.html

[bvar22]

3. ...since 1993?

"the law has been around since 1993"
That would make it another Clinton legacy, but I remember nothing about it.


I was unaware of this aspect of the Medicaid Expansion.
Since ObamaCare eliminated the "Means Testing",
people with Property and Savings became eligible.

This was great for people in their 50s and early 60s who had become unemployable,
but had worked hard all their lives,
had bought their homes, and had a savings account, but zero income.
I know several in this situation, and aggressively sold Obamacare & the Medicaid Expansion to them. I had no idea the state could come after property after death.

I have read so much BS about ObamaCare, that I don't fully believe this yet.
I would like to see another source.

[proverbialwisdom]

7. Check it out, in particular, the many embedded links to original source material.

Medicaid Estate Recovery Facts and Myths: http://obamacarefacts.com/medicaid-estate-recovery-facts-and-myths/

[CTyankee]

4. this was very illuminating. I think I know some of those voters even here in CT...

a small but vocal bunch who never tire of bashing immigrants (but who themselves are only 2nd generation Americans). Sometimes I feel like saying tothem "well anyone who came after MY people came here from Scotland in 1790 and who didn't speak English were just looking for a handout." Why is it we always have to "look down" on somebody else?

[elleng]

5. Us vs Them,

part of the human condition, I'm afraid.

[CTyankee]

6. Yes, and very sad...