What Makes the Republican Position on Medicaid Expansion Truly Sick
If you want to get a sense of the enfeebled and wanton state of the modern Republican party, there really is no better place to start than on the issue of Medicaid, the federal program that provides healthcare coverage for the poor.
In a desperate effort to undermine the law they hate, Obamacare, Republican governors and state legislatures in half the states have either rejected or intend to reject a key part of the president’s signature domestic initiative – namely, billions in federal dollars to extend Medicaid coverage to their poorest citizens. While Republicans argue they are acting out of highminded fiscal rectitude, the reality speaks to something else altogether – petulance and hyper-partisanship.
Others, like Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker and Texas Governor Rick Perry, argue that having more of their state’s residents on Medicaid will perpetuate a “culture of dependency”. Truth be told, there is little chance of that happening in Texas, which currently has one of the country’s stingiest welfare programs and has repeatedly rejected federal money to expand healthcare for children.
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The “culture of dependency” is the current system where employer provided healthcare insurance coverage, which disproportionately benefits whites, is subsidized by the US tax system where these employers deduct the cost of paying ~ 80% of those premiums. The rest, disproportionately non-white, are left to be uninsured and relying on substandard govt supplied healthcare of last resort.
So at its core, the debate around Obama Care isn’t about the law itself and the reach of government but about the allocation of resources. And the fact that the current system disproportionally benefits one racial group, whites, and that Obama Care would extend those same benefits to all the others, non-whites, is the real battle. Is it any surprise which side the Republicans are taking?