Medicaid expansion has a powerful positive impact on state level economies, as well as (obviously) on the well-being of the beneficiaries. Delong tells us that on one dollar of federal money coming into the state leads to a six dollars increase in the regional economic product. Among other effects, it puts money into the pockets of physicians, who used to be big contributors to Republican politicians. Sayeth DeLong:
The only way I can find to understand the pattern of Medicaid expansion nullification is a truly extraordinary unconcern on the part of Red State politicians with their poor–whether working or non-working–and substantial insulation as a result of the rise of right-wing billionaires from financial pressures put on them by the doctors who used to be the financial fund-raising bedrock base of the Republican Party. Plus remarkable unconcern with the the health of their state-level economies. But even if they do not care about the well-being of their citizens, they should care about competing for the votes of the non-working and the working poor, shouldn’t they? Or do they just think that the poor are low-information voters, and that those who pull the lever for the Republicans will not be unhornswoggled by looking across the Missouri-Illinois or the Tennessee-Kentucky or the Mississippi-Arkansas or the Texas-New Mexico state line and thinking: “Hmmmm…”
The ineffectiveness of the voice of the doctors I just do not understand. It goes against all theories of rational-choice political economy, it does.
I have expressed similar bafflement here in the past. How can you screw over your own state, hurt working poor people and health care workers -- who include both low wage and highly affluent people -- and harm your state's overall economy, and get elected and re-elected? One despairs for democracy.
3 comments:
so those who scream about voter fraud are reelected even tho they treated the population poorly. hhmmm. maybe the are election irregularities.
One thing that dumbfounds me about Republican animosity to Medicare expansion is the effect it could have on entrepreneurship.
I'm sure there are folks with an idea for a business who are afraid to take the leap because of fear of what could happen to their families without medical coverage. (Same goes for Obamacare.) You'd think that a group who worships 'individual initiative' would want to support policies that encourage it.
I realize that this is a fact free rant, but then again, it is directed towards Republicans. /snark
I could continue by pointing out that the party of Christianity seems unperturbed by the human suffering, and death, that could be alleviated by expanding this benefit. I might even point out that this failure totally disses the parable of the Good Samaritan.
But I won't.
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