#ThomHartmann @Thom_Hartmann blog: The Poor Are Political Pawns
by Thom Hartmann,posted Jan 9 2013 1:06PM
Florida Governor Rick Scott is using poor people in his state as pawns in his political game. Scott is one of a number of Republican Governors, who are using their grudge against President Obama to deny millions of low-income Americans health insurance coverage. As part of Obamacare – states are expected to expand their Medicaid coverage to cover more low-income Americans. And for the first few years – the federal government will pay for all the costs of this expansion – and after that will continue to pay for the vast majority of the coverage indefinitely.
All the states have to do is say, “Yes.” But Governor Scott, whose state has one of the highest uninsured rates in the nation, is saying, “No.” Not only is he saying, “No,” but he’s lying, too, claiming that Medicaid expansion will cost his state $26 billion over the next ten years. In reality – it will cost his state one billion – so he’s inflated the cost by 2,500%, just to justify his decision to screw poor, sick people in his state.
Several Republicans have a personal grudge against President Obama, and they want to do everything in their power to see that he fails. But condemning poor people in their states to untimely death due to lack of health insurance, as Rick Scott is doing, is downright appalling.
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