After promising he would not cut Medicaid, Donald Trump is now planning to cut Medicaid. Pretend to be surprised.

I can't believe you people fell for that.

Courtesy of WaPo: 

President Trump’s first major budget proposal on Tuesday will include massive cuts to Medicaid and call for changes to anti-poverty programs that would give states new power to limit a range of benefits, people familiar with the planning said, despite growing unease in Congress about cutting the safety net. 

For Medicaid, the state-federal program that provides health care to low-income Americans, Trump’s budget plan would follow through on a bill passed by House Republicans to cut more than $800 billion over 10 years. The Congressional Budget Office has estimated that this could cut off Medicaid benefits for about 10 million people over the next decade. 

The White House also will call for giving states more flexibility to impose work requirements for people in different kinds of anti-poverty programs, people familiar with the budget plan said, potentially leading to a flood of changes in states led by conservative governors. Many anti-poverty programs have elements that are run by both the states and federal government, and a federal order allowing states to stiffen work requirements “for able-bodied Americans” could have a broad impact in terms of limiting who can access anti-poverty payments — and for how long.

If you click here you can hear Trump promising that he would not be for cutting social programs like social security, medicare, and medicaid.

I can't believe at this point there are too many people who actually still think that Donald Trump is not completely full of shit.

Cutting these programs is the GOP white whale and with control over the White House, the Senate, and the Congress of course they are going to try and roll all of these programs back, or get rid of them altogether.

This is why you NEVER vote Republican. EVER!

Governor Rick Scott actually makes a commercial attacking the woman who called him out in a local Starbucks for cutting Medicaid.

"Latte Liberal?" Well that woman certainly got under SOMEBODY'S skin.

But was she really that wrong?

Courtesy of the LA Times: 

Local fact-checkers have picked apart Jennings' spiel and found it wanting in a few particulars, though it certainly remains well within the accepted margin of error of standard political discourse. Scott's efforts to bring Florida within the ACA's orbit have been halting and cynical. He opposed Medicaid expansion at first, then reversed himself and offered to expand it for three years only, after which it would have to be reauthorized. But he didn't push hard enough to get even that through the Legislature. 

Scott has attacked the Obama administration for failing to extend federal funding for its low-income pool, a program aimed at helping Florida hospitals with the costs of uncompensated care that expired in 2015. But as federal officials have pointed out, the remedy for the loss of this funding is to expand Medicaid, which Florida has refused to do. Essentially, Scott wants the feds to pick up the tab for his own failing. 

Then there's HB 1411, the law Scott signed in March, which purports to cut off state funding of abortion, but imposes excessive restrictions on abortion clinics similar to those already being challenged in Texas and elsewhere. Scott tried to minimize the impact of the law by saying that Planned Parenthood only received $114,000 a year in state funding, but Planned Parenthood says the real sum is more than twice that, and adds that "because the legislation is broadly written, Planned Parenthood will also lose access to reimbursements from local government entities and federal funding from the Title X program that is contracted through local county Health Departments."

So no she wasn't wrong.

And as for those jobs that Scott is bragging about, well really had little or nothing to do with his policies.

In fact the job growth in this country is typically credited to President Obama and his administration.

You know, the President that Rick Scott typically vilifies at every opportunity.

The Sarah Palin endorsed new Governor of Kentucky promises to do away with Obamacare. Problem is his constituents don't want that and the law won't let him do it.

Courtesy of the Daily News Bin:

The new republican governor of Kentucky was elected by tea party voters on the promise that he would kill off the Affordable Care Act in his state to whatever extent he legally could. But now that he’s won, reality has set in that large scores of Kentucky residents have only gained access to health care thanks to ObamaCare, meaning he would face an uprising among his state’s mainstream residents if he went through with his promise. Not surprisingly, the new governor has immediately caved and decided to keep ObamaCare after all, resorting to superficial changes so he can partially save face. And he may not even get away with that last part.

The problem is, as former Kentucky Governor Steve Bashear points out, is that Kentuckians kind of like Obamacare:  

“All of Kentucky looks forward to the day when our new governor transitions from strident partisan rhetoric and petty name-calling to the real and more difficult business of governing,” he wrote. “Mottos that make good bumper stickers rarely make good public policy. Medicaid expansion was and remains a smart policy move.” 

And it remains popular in the state. A poll released this month from the Kaiser Family Foundation found that 72 percent of Kentuckians do not want to change the state’s Medicaid program. 

So in response to that Bevin has decided that rather than do away with Obamacare he is going to "transform" it.

Problem with that is that he is not allowed to "transform" anything.

Courtesy of Forbes:

On Wednesday, Kentucky Governor Matt Bevin announced that he was planning to keep Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion, but would seek federal waivers to “transform” the program. But Bevin’s plan is already hitting an a snag: he wants to use a Section 1332 waiver to “transform Medicaid.” The snag: Section 1332 doesn’t provide any authority for Medicaid reform.

Oops!

Sadly for Bevin's supporters that promise was one of the main reasons that he received the backing from the Tea Party and of course Sarah Palin.

And now he really can't do shit.

I guess that's what happens when you live inside the conservative bubble where facts and critical thinking are simply not allowed.

Planned Parenthood is suing Texas for......you know, being Texas.

Courtesy of Think Progress:  

The national women’s health organization announced on Monday that it has filed suit against Texas for attempting to kick it out of the state’s Medicaid program. 

Last month, Texas officials announced they intended to end Medicaid funding for Planned Parenthood clinics — saying that, in light of the videos, the group can’t be trusted to provide “medical services in a professionally competent, safe, legal and ethical manner.” Essentially, that means the group would no longer be reimbursed with state or federal Medicaid dollars for the health services it provides to low-income patients in the public health insurance program. 

“By canceling Planned Parenthood’s Medicaid contract politicians are telling women where they can and cannot go for reproductive health care,” Planned Parenthood president Cecile Richards — a native Texan herself — said in a series of tweets on Monday afternoon. “This is illegal, and a violation of federal law.”

Go get'em Cecile Richards!

Planned Parenthood is also suing Louisiana for similar reasons. 

And of course they are also suing the Center for Medical Progress, the group that created those deceptive videos in the first place.

Perhaps if these lawsuits have the desired impact it will convince other states that they are on legally shaky ground by denying women access to reproductive health care.

By the way is anybody surprised that these states are also among those actively rejecting the Syrian refugees?

You know because they're so pro-life and all.

Judge blocks Alabama's attempt to defund Planned Parenthood. Cites lack of "legal reason." Gee, no kidding.

Courtesy of ABC News:  

A federal judge on Wednesday ordered Alabama to restore Medicaid funding to Planned Parenthood, money the state tried to cut off in the wake of undercover videos shot by abortion opponents. 

U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson issued an order that temporarily bars Alabama from cutting off Medicaid contracts with the group's clinics in Alabama. Planned Parenthood Southeast and a Medicaid recipient filed suit in August, days after Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley announced he was ending the Medicaid agreements with the two clinics. 

"Today's ruling is a victory for the women who rely on Planned Parenthood for quality, compassionate affordable health care," said Staci Fox, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Southeast. "It's outrageous that Governor Bentley is trying to take care away from women and families in our communities who need it the most." 

In his 66-page opinion, Thompson said Alabama did not identify a legal reason to cut off funding to Planned Parenthood and that the state's action likely violated a free-choice-of-provider provision of the federal Medicaid Act that limits a state's ability to bar family planning providers for reasons unrelated to quality of care.

And once again let's remind ourselves that Alabama is NOT one of the places where Planned Parenthood donated fetal tissue to researchers, so this  entire thing was ridiculous from the get go.

Of course you would think that the anti-choice folks would look at this and think "Well if we can't accomplish this in Alabama what  chance do we have in other states?"

But of course that will not happen and these Right Wing assholes will just keep right on spending tax payer money in the desperate attempt to take away a woman's right to choose.

Even after early loss, Republican lawmakers in Alaska still wasting taxpayer money to fight Medicaid expansion.

Courtesy of Alaska Dispatch:  

The Alaska Legislature has signed a contract for lawyers to take on Gov. Bill Walker's expansion of Medicaid, drawing criticism from some of its own members who had urged them to not continue after an early loss. 

The contracts signed Tuesday for up to $450,000 include a signing bonus of $100,000, said Sen. Berta Gardner, D-Anchorage. 

“I'm struggling to understand how Republican leadership has drifted so far from common sense, losing any sense of priority when it comes to serving the people of Alaska," Gardner said in a prepared statement Wednesday. 

The Legislative Council, the Legislature's operating arm, decided in August to sue Walker and his commissioner of Health and Social Services, Val Davidson, to block expansion, but failed to get an injunction before the state began enrolling Alaskans in the program on Sept.

Let me remind you that the expansion will help to cover 42,000 Alaskans currently without any health insurance at all.  And since we have less than 737,000 people altogether that is nothing to sneeze at.

I have been criticized lately for posting stories about stupid people in other states, especially Texas where the people seem to be particularly thin skinned.

However if you think just because I am posting about Florida, Arkansas, Alabama, Texas, or any other state bulging with morons, that I am giving a free pass to Alaska, well you my friend must be new here.

I have lived here my entire life, and while we have some truly exceptional people up here, we also have far more than our fair share of fucking idiots.

And no, their last name is NOT always Palin.

Alaska Republicans are planning to spend $450,000 of tax payer money to stop Governor Walker from expanding Medicaid.

"No seriously, what in the hell is wrong with you people?"

Courtesy of Alaska Dispatch: 

The Alaska Legislature on Tuesday said it will sue Gov. Bill Walker to block his move last month to expand the public Medicaid health care program without lawmakers’ approval. 

Following a private discussion Tuesday morning, a Republican-controlled House-Senate committee voted 10-1 to spend up to $450,000 on two law firms to represent the Legislature in a suit against the governor. 

In a news conference after the committee vote, Republican leaders framed their decision to challenge the governor as a constitutional one. They’re seeking an injunction to stop Medicaid expansion from going into effect Sept. 1. 

“This is not a policy issue — we’re not discussing whether we should or shouldn’t expand Medicaid,” said Senate President Kevin Meyer, R-Anchorage. “This is a question of authority and process and our constitution.”

Okay that last part is complete bullshit.

The Republicans, originally lead by ex-Governor Sean Parnell, have been trying to keep Alaskans from receiving the benefits of Obamacare ever since the program was initially put in place.

So here is Governor Walker finally helping those of us who cannot access affordable health care any other way, and the Republicans are going to spend OUR tax dollars to stop him.

You know sometimes I really hate living here.

Governor Walker will use executive order to bypass obstructionist Republicans and expand Medicaid in Alaska.

Courtesy of Alaska Dispatch:  

Gov. Bill Walker said Thursday he would use his executive power to expand the public Medicaid health-care program to newly cover as many as 40,000 low-income residents. 

The decision comes after the Alaska Legislature earlier this year rejected Walker’s efforts to expand the program through the state budget process, then adjourned without allowing a vote on a separate expansion bill. 

Walker’s move makes Alaska one of 30 states to approve Medicaid expansion, a key plank of the federal Affordable Care Act, or "Obamacare," that was aimed at cutting health-care costs and giving more Americans insurance. 

And that my friends is why we elected Walker even though he was tainted by support from Sarah Palin. 

Just speaking for myself this is hugely important, as I do not qualify for insurance even under Obamacare, without this expansion.

I have never in my life had health insurance, and used to joke that my insurance was a gym membership. However folks I am in my mid-fifties now and that's just not going to be enough anymore.

Thanks Governor Walker.

As if Alaskans needed another reason to vote Sean Parnell out of office.

Courtesy of Alaska Dispatch:  

The future of the health care program that covers some of Alaska’s poorest residents hinges largely on who voters elect governor in November. 

Republican Gov. Sean Parnell refused to extend Medicaid last year under the Affordable Care Act, what he called Obamacare. In a recent interview with Alaska Dispatch News, Parnell said expansion is “overly costly” and would put “an even greater burden on an already unsustainable system," though he said he is open to other means of Medicaid reform. 

Parnell's independent challenger, Bill Walker, said that if elected governor he would immediately accept Medicaid expansion, extending health care coverage to Alaskans who earn up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level, or about $19,800 for a single adult. But Walker, an attorney and former mayor of Valdez, said that once federal funding for the expansion dips below 100 percent -- it is set to decrease to 95 percent in 2017 -- the state will have to re-examine its decision. 

“If it helps Alaskans, then we should do it,” Walker said in an interview Wednesday with ADN. 

Even once it dips below 100% there is no way this is still not a great deal for Alaskans, and I seriously doubt that anybody could take it away once Alaskans started to receive this benefit. But hey I understand politics in Alaska, and know that Walker has to say things like this for the benefit of the mouth breathers.

As it says further down in the article this Medicaid expansion would affect between 10,000 to 41,000 Alaskans, including your favorite Alaska blogger.

So to sum up Sean Parnell did not do his job to protect personnel in the Alaska National Guard despite the fact that he was being asked to do so for essentially his entire term in office.

Governor Parnell also attempted to stand in the way of progress by challenging the findings of a US District Court judge that the same sex ban in Alaska was unconstitutional.  Even though similar attempts in other states had ultimately failed.

And now we know that the only thing standing between tens of  thousands of Alaskans receiving much needed healthcare is Sean Parnell.

What more do we need Alaskans? What more do we need?

Vice Chair of the Arizona GOP resigns in the face of criticism over statements he made about sterilizing poor women.

Courtesy of AZ Central:

 Former state Sen. Russell Pearce, who has recently served as the Arizona Republican Party's first vice chair, resigned his post late Sunday over remarks he made about requiring women on public assistance to use contraception. 

The Republican Party announced his resignation around 11 p.m. Sunday -- hours after GOP candidates expressed their displeasure with his remarks and a day after the Arizona Democratic Party Executive Director DJ Quinlan noted Pearce's comments in a news release and pressed his party's candidates to denounce them. 

Quinlan's statement, issued Saturday, highlighted remarks Pearce made on his talk-radio program on KKNT 960 AM. According to the statement, Pearce talked about changes he would make to the state's public assistance programs and was quoted in the Democratic Party's news release as saying: "You put me in charge of Medicaid, the first thing I'd do is get Norplant, birth-control implants, or tubal ligations…Then we'll test recipients for drugs and alcohol, and if you want to [reproduce] or use drugs or alcohol, then get a job." 

In his statement, Pearce wrote that during a recent radio show there "was a discussion about the abuses to our welfare system" and he "shared comments written by someone else and failed to attribute them to the author." "This was a mistake," Pearce stated. 

"This mistake has been taken by the media and the left and used to hurt our Republican candidates."

Yes how dare the media and Democrats use the actual words spoken by a Republican against them.

The audacity!

Of course this is nothing new, as conservatives have long attempted to suppress childbirth among minorities in this country.

This from Public Eye magazine: 

Even a cursory examination of the right's policy agenda demonstrates that, when the focus is changed from abortion to broader reproductive freedom, the right applies race and class criteria that distinguish between the rights of white, middle-class women and low-income women of color. The right has viciously attacked welfare mothers for their "sexuality" and immigrant women for bearing "too many" children. In its worldview, "excessive" childbearing by low-income, single women causes poverty. To eliminate poverty, it is necessary to prevent that childbearing. 

Right-wing activists reserve their most vicious attacks for these groups of women, promoting negative stereotypes of low-income women of all races as dependent, irresponsible, prone to addictions, and inadequate mothers. They use these stereotypes to inflame public opinion against all sexual behavior that lies outside the narrow parameters of right-wing ideology.

So all Russell Pearce was doing was openly expressing an idea that is discussed in the back rooms among conservatives, and he felt safe is saying it aloud because the audience for his radio show would all be nodding in agreement with him.

But you know I can't get over the idea that I have seen this guy before, but where?

 Oh that's right! That is him right there in the middle between Joe Arpaio and some crazy lady from Wasilla.

Virginia's refusal to expand Medicaid means that 400,000 Virginians remain uninsured and the state may have lost up to 1 billion in federal funds. Yay, Republicans!

William J. Howell

Courtesy of the Washington Post: 

The 200th day of 2014 happened to fall this weekend. Depending on which figures you prefer, that means Virginia’s refusal to opt into expanded Medicaid since Jan. 1 has cost the state at least $693 million in federal funding. Democrats say it’s an even $1 billion. 

Those princely sums, which many other states have rushed to capture, would have provided health coverage to some 400,000 currently uninsured Virginians, many of them indigent. It would have cost not one additional dime to Virginia taxpayers, who have already paid for expanding Medicaid in the course of their regular federal tax filings. 

The decision to leave those dollars on the table — an amount that increases by at least $3.46 million per day — is the doing of Republicans in the General Assembly. Those sages of Richmond, led by the Speaker of the House of Delegates, William J. Howell (R-Stafford), have proposed no alternative to providing health coverage to the hundreds of thousands of Virginians who lack it, nor any other method of capturing all or part of the federal funds that remain within Virginia’s grasp, should the state opt into the expansion. 

Instead, Mr. Howell and the Republican House caucus have elected to play political games, calling for the legislature to reconvene to “debate” Medicaid expansion, which they unequivocally oppose.

I know how Virginia feels. Though Alaska has a much smaller population we still have many, many thousands who also fall within the coverage gap left by the fact that our Governor, Sean Parnell, has also refused to accept the federal funds to expand Medicaid.

Hmm, 400,000 that seems like just about enough voters to completely sway an election, don't you think?

After 33 years Tennessee couple forced to split up because their Governor refuses to expand Medicaid.

Courtesy of USA Today:   

The day Linda Drain put baby's breath in her hair and said "I do," she had no idea that government policies would tear her apart from her husband. 

But 33 years later, she and her husband, Larry Drain, separated so she could keep her health insurance. 

Six months into the full implementation of the Affordable Care Act, the Drains are among 162,000 Tennesseans who got caught in a coverage gap. Their household income is too little to qualify for a government subsidy to buy health insurance, and they live in a state not expanding Medicaid.

Their predicament was caused by a combination of  Larry's decision to take early retirement from Social Security, which for some reason rendered his wife ineligible for her Supplemental Security income, and their Governor's decision to turn down the expansion of Medicaid offer3ed by the Affordable Care Act.

Mrs. Drain has epilepsy, and has undergone brain surgery, so her medications are quite expensive. Too expensive for the couple to afford without some assistance.

And Larry Drain is not taking any of this lying down: 

Every day, Larry Drain writes a letter to Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam asking him to expand Medicaid and posts it on a blog. 

"In some ways, it is like a virtual sit-in," he said. "I couldn't go sit in his office, but in some way I need to say, 'I am here. I am going to be here. I'm going to talk about things you don't want talked about.'"

It is inexcusable for this to happen in this country, and doubly so with the remedy so readily available in the form of an expanded Medicaid program.

If Tennessee simply had a Governor who was not a partisan asshole these nice people would not have to end a marriage that neither of them wants to end.

And here I thought the Republicans were the pro-traditional marriage people.

In news that somehow fell in between the cracks, Obamacare enrollment reaches new high. Update!

Courtesy of Enroll America:

We got a new Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) enrollment report from the feds this week, and it marks a new milestone. Between the health insurance marketplaces, Medicaid, and CHIP, 14 million Americans signed up to get covered between October 1 and the end of April. 

Compared to the sign-up stats from before October 1, Medicaid/CHIP enrollment has increased by 6 million people since open enrollment began on October 1, including 1.1 million in April alone. In states that expanded Medicaid, enrollment increased by more than 15 percent, and sign-ups still increased by 3.3 percent in non-expansion states. 

It’s important to remember that even though open enrollment ended for the health insurance marketplaces on March 31, people can still sign up for Medicaid and CHIP at any time. So that 6 million figure will go up as the year goes on.

Now if only the twenty or so states that are NOT expanding medicaid will get with the program we might see those numbers go up even more dramatically.

After all isn't it time for the Republicans to admit defeat on this issue?

(H/T to the Obama Diary.)

Update: You know it might be worth mentioning here that many insurance companies that were once hesitant to sign on with Obamacare have had a change of heart.

Tennessee becomes first state to put mothers in jail for actions harming the fetus.

Courtesy of Salon:  

Tennessee has become the first state in the nation to pass a law criminalizing women for their pregnancy outcomes. Republican Gov. Bill Haslam took the 10 days allotted to him to consider the advice of doctors, addiction experts and reproductive health groups urging him to veto the punitive and dangerous measure that allows prosecutors to charge a woman with criminal assault if she uses illegal drugs during her pregnancy and her fetus or newborn is considered harmed as a result. Haslam ignored these recommendations — and the recommendations of nearly every major medical association, including the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy — and signed the measure anyway. 

Opponents of the new law share a concern that a lack of access to health care and treatment facilities will result in the disproportionate targeting and jailing of poor mothers and mothers of color, particularly in rural districts throughout the state. 

Republican state Sen. Mike Bell, one of the seven Republicans in the state Senate to vote against the measure (every Democrat in the state Senate voted in favor), recently told Salon that this lack of access is a problem he thinks will hurt the women of his district and their families. “I represent a rural district,” he said. “There’s no treatment facility for these women there, and it would be a substantial drive for a woman caught in one of these situations to go to an approved treatment facility. Looking at the map of the state, there are several areas where this is going to be a problem.” 

Only two of the state’s 177 addiction treatment facilities that provide on-site prenatal care allow older children to stay with their mothers while they are undergoing treatment. And only 19 of these facilities offer any addiction care specifically oriented toward pregnant women. Tennessee has also refused the Medicaid expansion, leaving many women without reliable access to basic medical or prenatal care, much less drug treatment. 

The law does nothing to expand treatment options for women in Tennessee, a fact that did not seem to trouble Republican state Rep. Terri Lynn Weaver, who sponsored the House version of the bill and remains one of its most vocal defenders. “I don’t know what to say about [how] some [women] have insurance and some do not,” she recently told Salon. “It’s a terrible thing, but I don’t want to get into that because that’s another subject.”

This is one of those laws that almost feels like the right thing to do, but once you consider the possible ramifications it becomes immediately clear that it certainly it NOT.

I personally work with children born with FAS, or coke addicted, and I can certainly testify to my anger at their mothers fro being so uncaring and irresponsible that they condemned their children to a lifetime of suffering.

However this law is guaranteed to keep expectant mothers, who desperately need prenatal care, away from physicians and health care workers who could identify potential problems with the pregnancy, or even provide nutritional advice.

And of course this opens the door for more stringent laws in Tennessee's future that will almost certainly further restrict a woman's right to choose.

Because if you don't think that this is ultimately about abortion then you certainly don't understand Republican politics.

When it comes to health care in this country there are two Americas. And thanks to Republican interference Obamacare will not be able to help the most needy half.

Courtesy of HuffPo:  

When it comes to the quality of health care, there are two Americas. 

In one America, infant mortality, avoidable deaths, health-care costs and other measures are far worse than in the other America, according to a new study by the Commonwealth Fund, a health policy research firm. And thanks to Republican lawmakers and the Supreme Court, the gulf between them may only get wider. 

The map below from the Commonwealth Fund shows the stark divide. States with the worst overall health care systems -- as measured by factors like the number of insured adults and children, avoidable emergency room visits and access to affordable care -- are dark blue. States with better health-care systems are white.

What's more, 16 of the 26 states at the bottom of the Commonwealth Fund’s scorecard aren’t expanding Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. 

Of course the states with the worst health care are red states, most of which will also not accept the Affordable Care Act's Medicaid expansion. Leaving them with virtually no help until they vote the Republicans out, or the GOP starts to panic and change their policies in order to hang onto power.

Make no mistake these people are suffering for NO good reason other than a desire by the Republicans to obstruct the President and deny his ability to help the most vulnerable Americans in the country.

We need to rise up and vote these Kochsuckers out, and the time to do that is this year.

We CANNOT let this opportunity pass.

Some Republican states take measures to block Medicaid expansion even if Democratic governor elected.

Courtesy of TPM:

 Republicans are taking no chances when it comes to Obamacare's Medicaid expansion. They're closing every possible door. Under bills passed in Georgia and Kansas recently, even if a Democratic candidate were to pull off an upset and take the governor's seat, they would not be able to expand the program without the consent of the state legislature -- which will almost certainly remain Republican. 

In other words, GOP lawmakers have taken steps to guarantee that many of their poorest residents will remain uninsured under the health care reform law, no matter what happens in the gubernatorial election. 

Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal (R) and Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback (R) both oppose Medicaid expansion. They both look likely -- if not quite certain -- to win re-election in November. That should make the bills passed by their respective state lawmakers unnecessary, but they seem intent on guarding against even the remote possibility of a Democratic governor. 

An explanation offered by a GOP lawmaker in Kansas, where the bill was signed into law by Brownback last week, points to the motive. 

“Governor Brownback’s not always going to be the governor. It’s my fervent hope he’s going to be the governor for four more years after this one, but he may or may not be,” Rep. John Rubin (R) told the Wichita Eagle.

Remember the Medicaid expansion for the first three years will cost these states nothing, and after that no more than 10% of the costs.

This is what the CBO had to say about its overall impact on the states that embrace the expansion:

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates that the Medicaid expansion will add very little to what states would have spent on Medicaid without health reform, while providing health coverage to 17 million more low-income adults and children. In addition, the Medicaid expansion will reduce state and local government costs for uncompensated care and other services they provide to the uninsured, which will offset at least some — and in a number of states, possibly all or more than all — of the modest increase in state Medicaid costs. Expanding Medicaid is thus a very favorable financial deal for states.

However not allowing the Medicaid expansion could unnecessarily cost the lives of thousands, and eventually millions who could be covered if these assholes were not so petty and vindictive.

There is literally no hope for the poor in these deeply red states unless they were to rally together and drive the Republican party out with torches and pitchforks. 

More on the real Obamacare "death panels."

Courtesy of Americans Against the Tea Party:  

This 32-year-old mother of three was trying to sell a vacuum cleaner when she died, one of her three jobs she worked in order to financially support her family. Dill died due to a treatable heart condition she had but could never receive care because she could not afford insurance. 

Charlene Dill only made $9,000 a year and was working three jobs. She even tried applying for Obamacare but was denied due to her “high income.” This is a perfect example as to why Florida needs to expand the Medicaid plan, but the Republican Party, once again, is ignoring the issue. 

Kathleen Voss Woolrich, Dill’s best friend, tried to help raise money in order for Dill to pay for the care she needed. Woolrich used crowdfunding sites to try to raise the money; instead she raised money for her friend’s funeral. Woolrich rightfully blamed Florida politicians for Dill’s death. “You see the main argument Republicans use is that it’s some lazy person who needs Medicaid expansion. That those of us living without healthcare or dental care are lazy. But my friend, a single beautiful mother, worked three jobs,” Woolrich wrote in a moving blog post after Dill’s death. 

“I am burying my best friend because of the policies of the Republican Party. I am burying my best friend because had Medicaid expanded, her needs would have been met.”

Such an unnecessary end to a young life.

As somebody who also falls between the gap left by my Republican Governor's refusal to adopt the Affordable Care Act's Medicaid expansion. I totally relate to this poor woman's situation.

I voted for this President twice, and supported the plan to implement the Affordable Care Act all the way, only to find that I, like many others, will not benefit simply because I happen to live in a state where Republicans rule the day.

Because of these heartless POS there are many of us here, and in other red states, who could get sick and die simply because of their refusal to support a plan advocated by a hated ideological enemy.

It is a tragic shame that this young mother died, and I believe that every death that would have been prevented by an expanded Medicaid, is a homicide that the governors of their states should be held accountable for.

Are there death panels?

You bet your ass there are. Only we know them by another name, Republican administrations.

Finally found those Obamacare "death panels."

Courtesy of the Daily Kos:  

Despite the catastrophic launch of the Healthcare.gov web site last fall, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is on pace to hit and surpass the CBO's most recent forecast of 6 million private insurance subscribers by the March 31 enrollment deadline. All told, at least 13 million people will obtain insurance coverage as a result of Obamacare, including 3 million young adults under age 26 added to their parents' (a majority of them Republican) policies. As with President Bush's Medicare Part prescription drug plan 8 years ago, ACA approval is climbing. The markets, too, have spoken, with stock prices for major insurers surging as their CEOs signal their pleasure with the total number and age mix of their new customers. 

But given the unprecedented four-year Republican war to smother it in its cradle, Obamacare's recovery is all the more remarkable. A seemingly unending torrent of court challenges by state Republicans and right-wing front groups has held up ACA implementation in many states. (If they succeed in Halbig v. Sebelius, they will effectively undo the Affordable Care Act in 34 states altogether.) A misinformation campaign about make-believe deficits, mythical "death panels," a pretend "government takeover of health care" and a supposedly simultaneous insurance industry "death spiral" and "bailout" left Americans—especially the uninsured—fearful, confused and shockingly ill-informed. 

Yet as damaging as that uncertainty and chaos has been, the Republican Party's scorched-earth opposition to Obamacare is producing something far worse: a body count. That's not hyperbole, but a grim reality. Due to what might be the greatest act of political spite in modern American history, Republicans will needlessly leave millions of people uninsured, many hospitals on the edge of financial ruin and thousands of Americans dead, mostly in the states the GOP itself controls.

So do I owe Sarah Palin an apology now? 

Or is this not quite what she meant?

Here is more from the Health Affairs blog:  

Nationwide, 47,950,687 people were uninsured in 2012; the number of uninsured is expected to decrease by about 16 million after implementation of the ACA, leaving 32,202,633 uninsured. Nearly 8 million of these remaining uninsured would have gotten coverage had their state opted in. States opting in to Medicaid expansion will experience a decrease of 48.9 percent in their uninsured population versus an 18.1 percent decrease in opt-out states. 

We estimate the number of deaths attributable to the lack of Medicaid expansion in opt-out states at between 7,115 and 17,104. Medicaid expansion in opt-out states would have resulted in 712,037 fewer persons screening positive for depression and 240,700 fewer individuals suffering catastrophic medical expenditures. Medicaid expansion in these states would have resulted in 422,553 more diabetics receiving medication for their illness, 195,492 more mammograms among women age 50-64 years and 443,677 more pap smears among women age 21-64. Expansion would have resulted in an additional 658,888 women in need of mammograms gaining insurance, as well as 3.1 million women who should receive regular pap smears.

So yes Sarah Palin, there ARE death panels, and they are overseen by Republican pieces of shit who put politics before the needs of the people whom they were elected to serve.

Obamacare already boosting household budgets.

Courtesy of the Wall Street Journal:  

The Affordable Care Act, President Barack Barack Obama’s signature health law, is already boosting household income and spending. 

The Commerce Department reported Monday that consumer spending rose a better-than-expected 0.4% and personal incomes climbed 0.3% in January. The new health-care law accounted for a big chunk of the increase on both fronts. 

On the incomes side, the law’s expanded coverage boosted Medicaid benefits by an estimated $19.2 billion, according to Commerce’s Bureau of Economic Analysis. The ACA also offered several refundable tax credits, including health insurance premium subsidies, which added up to $14.7 billion. 

Taken together, the Obamacare provisions are responsible for about three-quarters of January’s overall rise in Americans’ incomes.

Look, more news you won't be able to see on Fox News.

This is the kind of information that absolutely HAS to  disseminated far and wide.

The GOP is still counting on running against the Affordable Care Act in 2014, the more data like this that gets out there the harder that will prove to be.

DC's oldest charter school charged with falsifying data concerning disabled students in order to funnel millions into the pockets of operators.

Courtesy of Nonprofit Quarterly:

The burgeoning scandal involving the Options Public Charter School is an all-in-one composite of everything that might go wrong with private, for-profit “educators” trying to make more than a buck from public education under the guise of charter school management. To wit: 

Federal investigators charged that managers of Options diverted millions of dollars to for-profit companies they ran through a Medicaid fraud scheme. The federal investigation is still underway regarding how Options may have exaggerated the number of students with disabilities it enrolled and the services the school provided them in anticipation of federal Medicaid reimbursement. 

Jeremy Williams, a senior official working for the D.C. Public Charter School Board, the entity that oversees charters—and who was responsible for “rooting out financial wrongdoing,” according to the Post—allegedly took $150,000 from the managers of Option Public Charter School to help them “evade oversight and take millions of taxpayer dollars for themselves.” He allegedly funneled inside information to the Options managers, alerting them to “surprise” inspections and other oversight issues. In August, Williams left the board, joining a Virginia-based company he owns, which allegedly received over $100,000 in fees from one of the for-profit companies owned and run by the Options managers. 

A local television news personality, J.C. Hayward of CBS-affiliate WUSA (Channel 9), had an ownership interest in one of the companies contracted to manage Options and was paid $8,500 to attend company board meetings. Hayward was also board chairwoman of Options and signed contracts that provided hundreds of thousands of dollars to Exceptional Education Services (EES), one of the two for-profit companies controlled by the Options managers, in which she was recognized as a part owner, having received 10 percent of the company’s shares. WUSA put Hayward on leave after the allegations about Options arose. 

EES was originally a for-profit subsidiary of the nonprofit Options, which meant that all EES profits were supposed to go to the school, but in 2012 the Options managers and Hayward transferred EES ownership from Options to themselves personally. 

After the Options managers took full personal ownership of EES, they hired a subcontractor for busing Options students but charged Options a 77 percent markup for the service (a $45,000 markup on top of the subcontractor’s cost of $31,000 a month), plus a $100,000 “ridership bonus.” 

The Options Form 990 for July 1, 2011, through June 30, 2012, indicated that the salary of Options “CEO” Dr. Donna Montgomery was $254,679, a decent salary for a charter school principal. According to the Post, Montgomery allegedly received compensation of $660,000 from Options and EES, plus another $212,000 from the other company the Options executives ran, EEMC. 


And if you think all of THAT was bad, get a load of this comment from the company's lawyer.
 
The lawyer representing the for-profit management company offered the “it’s well known common practice” defense. “These related-party transactions between for-profit management companies and the nonprofit public charter schools are not only appropriate and lawful, but the same arrangements exist with several other public charter schools,” said A. Scott Bolden, though he didn’t identify those other nonprofit charter schools pursuing the Options model.

In other words, EVERYBODY is doing it.

It is no secret that I dislike the concept of charter schools, unless they are located in regions with a serious public school deficit.

They drain tax dollars from public schools, cherry pick the high performing students to inflate their test scores and by comparison make the public schools appear to be performing poorly, and cut corners at every opportunity in order to increase their profit margin.

In other words they are everything that a school is NOT supposed to be.

Any time you put making a profit over providing education, this is going to be the result.

Republicans constantly trumpet the "fact" that private enterprises do a better job of providing services than to government or public entities, but that it really just wishful thinking on their part, and there is little data to back up such a contention.

However on the flip side, we have numerous cases just like this one.

(Original story in the Washington Post.)