As noted frequently on this blog, today's Republican Party loves to wrap itself in supposed "Christian values" even as it pushes an agenda which is the antithesis of the Gospel message. This hypocrisy is not reserved for the national GOP. It's alive and well here in Virginia where the Virginia GOP regards the poor and lower working classes as disposable trash. A case in point is the Virginia GOP's fierce opposition to Medicaid expansion which would aid an estimated 400,000 Virginians - many of them in GOP controlled districts - and stimulate an estimated 30,000 new medical field related jobs. Sadly, the Virginia GOP and many of its racists base care more about opposing a black president than they do about their fellow Virginians. It's sick and it certainly isn't Christian conduct. A piece in Slate looks at the Virginia GOP's war on the poor. Here are excerpts:
The Commonwealth of Virginia is modeling dysfunction yet again this month, as the legislature fights to the death over Gov. Terry McAuliffe’s proposed two-year, $97 billion budget. The government is imploding in large part due to the fact that state Republicans in the House of Delegates have decided to fight tooth and nail—up to and including shutting down the whole government if this is not resolved by July—to avoid expanding Medicaid benefits to cover up to 400,000 lower-income Virginians who fall into the health care coverage gap. These are the folks who can’t afford to purchase health care under the ACA, but make too much money to qualify for Medicaid.
It’s worth at least pointing out here that the same House Republicans set on blocking the expansion represent 32 out of the 50 House districts with the most residents enrolled in Medicaid at current levels, at least according to this study from the University of Mary Washington. The representatives from the poorest districts, where residents who aren’t on Medicaid desperately need it, are fighting hardest against helping their constituents. As the Post points out, recent polls suggest that voters support the expansion more than they oppose it. So, as always, GOP politicians are banking on the fact that voters are more afraid of Obamacare in theory than they are desperate for health care in reality.
But have you noticed that all this debate has absolutely nothing to do with what happens if we fail to close the Medicaid gap? That GOP lawmakers can talk for hours and never once acknowledge what is actually happening to low-income Virginians who fall into the gap right now? Last weekend 60 Minutes did a terrifying segment on the Virginians who are unable to access affordable health care for diseases that range from cancer to epilepsy to black lung. Make no mistake about it: People without preventive care do die.
Studies show that people will die because of states’ decisions to not expand coverage. The poorest are being cared for, the rest of us can buy insurance. The folks who fall into the gap get nothing. Of the 32,100 Virginia veterans who do not have health insurance, 12,300 could qualify if the coverage gap were closed. A quarter of the people who fall into the coverage gap are parents with kids under 18.
And the GOP plan for alternatives to the expansion? Send the poor to emergency rooms and free clinics—free clinics they’ve attempted to shutter in earlier budgets. Pass more Good Samaritan laws! Tort reform! No, seriously. This is the alternative “plan.”
It’s the Commonwealth that is broken here—not the Medicaid expansion.
I increasing do not understand how decent people can be Republicans nowadays. Do greed and a desire to cut taxes for the wealthy trump decency, especially towards children? It is disgusting. And it is no surprise that this has happened to the GOP following the rise of the Christofascists within the party base. Conservative Christianity and decency are increasingly mutually exclusive.
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