I am so dismayed by the Republicans in the House of Delegates who voted against Medicaid expansion. I spent much of yesterday really trying to see the other side. I thought, “maybe there is a good reason I'm overlooking?”
I watched the floor speeches by the GOP membership. There was nothing there that even remotely stood up as a good argument against giving the working poor access to healthcare. They made allusions to a “better time” or some better “package”. But the substance was lacking.
Additionally, they falsely stated that 30% of Medicaid funding is lost to fraud or waste. The facts DO NOT bear that out.
We have no excuse in our present environment to allow people to go without basic healthcare. It's technologically possible to reach people. It's economically beneficial to cover basic needs vs. paying for catastrophic or ER visits for the uninsured. It's also fiscally viable because of the money available to the states through the ACA. It covers all but up to 10%. Right now we pay 50% of the costs ourselves. Granted, the pool of recipients is smaller, but all told, the increase is modest if we were to cover the 400,000 people who would qualify in the Commonwealth.
For me the question really comes down to two things, humanity and spite. The Republicans are so deeply entrenched in their dislike for former President Obama that they still cannot accept that the ACA is law. Their dislike of it outweighs the benefit gained by offering health and wellness to their constituents. One of humanity’s definitions is: humaneness; benevolence. "he praised them for their standards of humanity, care, and dignity" That is lacking in the Republican approach to access to healthcare among the working poor.
The entire Medicaid question boils down to what kind of a society do we want to have? If we want to look at poverty as a moral issue, then we keep treating the poor as if they have done something “wrong”. However, if we wish to be the best we can be as a people, collectively; we recognize that life is not fair and things go wrong. We build steps and bridges for our brothers and sisters to walk on to find their way to prosperity. We treat each other with the dignity our creator endowed in us and we march forward with our hands ready to reach out and lift each other up. Because if conventional wisdom holds, we will all someday stumble.
Let’s make sure that dignity is not a means test. That’s why I run. I’m presently seeking the Democratic nomination in the 56th District in the House of Delegates. Vote Lizzie Drucker-Basch on June 13!
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