We Mailed All Our FOIA Requests! #LetOurPoorPeopleLive #STDDs, Week 28

The Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, has made a difference in the lives of another 11.4 million Americans. Eleven million, four hundred thousand people can breathe easier today knowing that they will have access to quality care if and when needed. In fact, if you were to count all those with private health coverage, young adults allowed to stay on their parents policies, and those covered through the Medicaid Expansion Program, the number would be closer to 32 million. Thirty-two million? Wow! And still the number of insured could have been more. the number should have been more...much more, and someone(s) should be forced to explain what informed their decision to deliberately work to deny poor people health care coverage.
The right-wing think tank, Heritage Foundation, have been going out of their way to spread misinformation and disinformation about the ACA. Two experts,  Stan Dorn and John Holahan of the Health Affairs Blog have taken a sledge hammer to the lies being told and in so doing managed to show the desperate obduracy of  Republican Governors. Dorn and Holahan were able to cite figures which proved that not only are States deliberately and maliciously doing harm to their citizens, but that they are also shortsightedly cutting off their noses to spite their faces.  

while a Medicaid expansion would increase that state’s Medicaid costs by about $2.5 billion from 2014 through 2022, it would also save Ohio $1.5 billion by reducing state spending on current programs in favor of the largely federally financed expansion. Such programs cover so-called “medically needy” adults, women with breast and cervical cancer, and adults who are waiting for disability determinations. At the same time, expansion would increase state revenue by as much as $2.8 billion, in part because of the economic activity galvanized by more than $31 billion in new federal Medicaid funds, but also because of prescription drug rebates and taxes on Medicaid managed care premiums. The overall result: at least $1.8 billion in net state budget gains.

Yes, refusing the Medicaid Expansion Program does not make for sound financial policy. Refusing to give poor people access to healthcare is a crime before God and man. Governors who have rejected the Medicaid Expansion Program should be forced to explain their actions. Actually, they should be forced to do a perp walk, but we'll settle for a walk of shame for the time being.

Just to remind ourselves of the harm that is being done to the least among by the most powerful among us, this is a list of the services offered under the Medicaid Expansion Program in my home state of Connecticut.

• Visits
• Preventive Care
• Doctor
• Women’s Health Care
• Family Planning Services
• Maternity Care
• Hospital Stays
• Physical Therapy/Occupational Therapy/Speech Therapy
• Audiology Services
• Physical Rehabilitation
• Dialysis
• Durable Medical Equipment
• Hearing Aids
• Orthotic and Prosthetic Devices
• Home Health Care
• Hospice Services
• Ambulatory Surgery
• Hospital Outpatient Care
• Laboratory Tests
• X-rays and other Radiology Services
• Vision Care
• Emergency Care
• Dental Services (through CT Dental Health Partnership)
• Behavioral Health Services (through CT Behavioral Health Partnership)
• Pharmacy (medications)

I am hoping that you read the above and that it made you mad. That you are so angry that some 17,000 people will die annually because of the wickedness of Republican Governors that you want to do something about it. I am hoping you will want to write a letter to the editor.