And it was all free.
The best medical treatment in the world for free—and he got
it at the Charity Hospital in New Orleans, which was founded in 1736 and at one
time was the second largest hospital in the country. It never reopened after
Hurricane Katrina, most assuredly for political reasons.
My thoughts have turned to the wonderful care my brother received
because of the announcement by Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal that he wasacting for the entire state and rejecting key portions of the Affordable CareAct. How far has Louisiana fallen when it comes to taking care of its
citizens!
Jindal has now been joined by his fellow right-wingideologue Florida Governor Richard Scott, who is also rejecting those
portions of the new health care law over which the states have control.
In the case of both of the provisions that Jindal and Scott
have rejected, the governors are cutting off the noses of their constituencies
to spite their own faces in a near paroxysm of ideological purity.
First, their refusal to construct state health insurance
exchanges (HIX), which are state markets on which different insurance companies
offer policies built on state-mandated standards to uninsured citizens of the
state. The Affordable Care Act gives
every state the option to create an HIX, but the citizens of those states who
decide not to create one will be able to buy insurance on the federal version.
In other words, by blocking Louisiana and Florida HIXs, Jindal and Scott are
directly leading to an increase in federal government intervention on a state
level because people who would have bought insurance through a state HIX will
now go to the federal HIX. I guess their
opposition to social service programs to help the needy supersedes their
dedication to states’ rights.
Ideological purity will lead to a net transfer of money from
the pockets of Louisianans and Floridians because their governors are also
rejecting an increase in the Medicare program.
I get it that both would like to replace Medicare with
either a voucher system or, alternatively, end all government support of health
care for the elderly. But let’s look at
the facts on the ground: Medicare as it exists right now is being expanded to
serve millions of new people. All of
this expansion will be completely financed on the short term by the federal
government and mostly financed by the feds in the long run. For every dollar
that a state puts into the expansion in the future, it will receive many, many
dollars from the feds both now and later. All of this money will go to making
their citizens healthier. Moreover, the
citizens of every state will have to pay taxes to support the Medicare
expansion, whether or not they receive the benefits. Thus, by refusing to participate, a state is
making its citizens pay for the health care of the citizens of other states.
In both refusals, the good governors are perversely working
against their own cause. By not creating an HIX, they increase federal
government control of the local health insurance market using federal not state
standards. By turning down the Medicare expansion, they take money out of the
pockets of their citizens and give it to the citizens of other states, a de
facto tax increase with no benefit to those taxed—just the kind of thing about
which Rick and Bobby like to pontificate.
Laughable on the level of ideas, but truly tragic when we
think of the hundreds of thousands of people in these two states who will not
get adequate health care because of these heartless ideologues. It’s a sad day for both Louisiana and
Florida.