Madness.
Posted on 02/12/2013 3:46:41 AM PST by IbJensen
Governor turns to mathematically-challenged progressives for talking points
Governor John Kasich worked with the far-left Universal Health Care Action Network of Ohio (UHCAN Ohio) to build his case for Medicaid expansion, a central piece of President Obama’s Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA). Washington Post blogger Sarah Kliff detailed Kasich’s strategy in a February 6 Wonkblog entry.
“Rather than having to convince the governor, Obamacare supporters were asked to focus their efforts on convincing businesses and legislators,” Kliff explained in her story, which was titled, “How Ohio’s Republican governor sold the state on expanding Medicaid.”
While the Kasich administration publicly insisted no decision had been made, UHCAN Ohio Executive Director Cathy Levine “was in regular contact with the governors’ [sic] office, sharing different budget assumptions, as to ensure they would all land near the same place.”
“The administration was totally transparent about how they were developing their numbers and analysis,” Levine told Kliff. “We went back and forth so we could try to close those differences. They worked very hard on their end on an honest analysis of those numbers.”
It turns out those numbers are built on faith in federal bureaucracy. According to UHCAN Ohio – and, as of February 4, Governor Kasich – a massive expansion of one of the nation’s most costly entitlement programs will mean healthier Ohioans and an improved state economy.
Wonkblog and other liberal outlets have suggested Medicaid expansion in Ohio is now a foregone conclusion, but Kasich must convince the state legislature to join in his embrace of socialized medicine.
PPACA promises that a federal government already $16.4 trillion in debt will pay for 100 percent of states’ Medicaid expansion costs for several years before tapering federal funding down to 90 percent. Medicaid itself “saves” money by paying care providers far less than private insurance does, and PPACA is written to build on this shell game with an assortment of penalties for hospitals that reject Medicaid patients.
Expanding Medicaid would distort Ohio’s health care market further than existing federal subsidies and mandates already do. Rather than face this politically difficult truth, Governor Kasich reached out to a socialized medicine lobbying group for help selling a key portion of a law 66 percent of Ohio voters chose to block in November 2011.
UHCAN Ohio cheered the passage of PPACA and has fought for its full implementation.
Quoted in a January 5, 2011 story about the potential for PPACA repeal, Cathy Levine told The Columbus Dispatch, “Any Ohioan who’s struggling with increasing health premiums is being helped by the Affordable Care Act.”
The results of a Kaiser Family Foundation survey released September 12, 2012 showed that premiums increased dramatically in the months and years after PPACA passed.
“Health insurance premiums are rising this year for many Ohioans, and some will see larger double-digit percent increases than they’ve seen before, according to rate requests filed by health insurers,” the Dayton Daily News reported on January 9, 2013.
The Ohio General Assembly would contribute to this trend by complying with Kasich’s request to expand Medicaid, conservative health policy expert Avik Roy explained in a February 8 Forbes story.
Although President Obama carried Ohio in 2012 and Governor Kasich is up for reelection in 2014, it seems odd for the governor to partner with a progressive organization that advocates more federal mandates and subsidies. Every comment and press release from UHCAN Ohio betrays a deep misunderstanding of how markets work.
“Unlike today’s insurance marketplace, which has done little to reduce health-care costs, the exchange has the potential to protect consumers by demanding that insurance companies comply with strict standards and compete on quality as well as price to sell their policies through the exchange,” Levine wrote in a January 20, 2012 Dispatch editorial calling for Ohio to create a PPACA exchange.
In addition to Washington Post coverage, the Kasich administration’s current allegiance to UHCAN Ohio is evidenced by a governor’s office web page quoting supporters of Medicaid expansion.
“This is great news for the many Ohioans who are earning minimum wage and can’t afford to pay for health care,” Levine said in a UHCAN Ohio response to Kasich’s February 4 announcement. “These are hard-working people who are preparing our food, caring for our children and our elderly, doing all kinds of jobs that need to be done. Our Governor knows that they deserve to be healthy.”
Governor Kasich’s website also quotes Ohio Consumers for Health Coverage, a UHCAN Ohio campaign backed by labor unions and other progressive activists, and Families USA, a national socialized medicine lobbying group whose research UHCAN Ohio cites regularly.
Families USA recognizes one of conservatives’ biggest concerns about Kasich’s decision as a cause for celebration, writing in a February 4 statement, “Now that Republican governors in Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, and Ohio have decided to implement the Medicaid expansion, we can expect other Republican governors to follow suit.”
But why am I surprised? He's in a purple state and down in the polls and he'd like to win re-election. This isn't profound insight - it fundamental.
The obvious problem is that Kasich is more worried about the general than the primary.(again, a fairly rational choice, given his incumbency) The way to move Republican politicians permanently to right is to keep them constantly aware of a robust primary challenge, incumbency or not.
You might not be old enough to remember how that lying bastard ran for the house seat he held running as a pro gun candidate only to vote for clinton’s gun ban and every gun control bill that came up for a vote. He’s no better than your garden variety soccer mom (AKA, suburban welfare queen).
Any pat on the back you get from that asshole is going to involve a knife at some point.
Unreal. What do they have on him?
probably something disgusting. Like french-kissing a poodle.
I’m indeed old enough.
I had lunch a few times with Congressman Kasich and genuinely liked the man.
This is a departure from sane thought and a journey into the nut house for this disgraceful disappointment.
One thing about the RATS, for the most part they stay the course, while there are too many pubbie back stabbing whores.
You’re more tolerant than I. I can’t sit down to eat with a liar who votes to infringe upon my rights.
The last part I haven't heard before.
So is this funding already passed years ahead or does it depend on the CRs?
“One thing about the RATS, for the most part they stay the course, while there are too many pubbie back stabbing whores.”
Glen Beck was likely on target yesterday when he said many people with good intentions are elected to public office and ultimately fall to temptation. Money, sex, and power/ego gratification are temptations put in front of new legislators. As soon as they take a small bite of the apple they are hooked. This is why one of Hillary Clinton’s first moves when Bill was elected President was to have the FBI files of 900 Republicans brought to the White House.
The reality is in today’s world it costs millions of dollars to become a candidate for Congress much less win the job. The national party is a major gatekeeper for this money. Hence Boehner’s ability to keep conservative Republicans in line. In addition the national party controls the seats on the good committees which are essential to amass power in Washington for those tempted by the ego game. Finally, Washington is filled with ambitious young women and men who are starstruck and willing to give their bodies to the powerful.
When we see a man such as Kasich turn, it is likely he has lost his virtue and fallen to temptation. No doubt the Democrats have the evidence and have threatened to use it if he doesn’t fall in line. He may think he is saving his career and positioning himself for reelection by doing Obama’s bidding on healthcare. However, if they really have something on him, he’ll find it comes out in the upcoming election.
On the flip side, the Democrat party is filled with fallen people. Nancy Pelosi’s husband has made millions on sweet real estate deals involving federal lands. Barney Frank ran a homosexual brothel in his home. Ted Kennedy and Chris Dodd openly ran around with young women. Harry Reid has been involved in many crooked land deals in Nevada. Jon Corzine steals money from depositors at MF Global yet isn’t brought to justice. NJ Senator Menendez is in the news currently in escapes ranging from prostitution to sex with minors. Will he resign like Republican Newt Gingrich, Bob Livingston, or Mark Foley? No, more likely the stories will disappear and he will continue to chair a powerful committee.
While progressive historians try to portray the founding fathers as sex crazed immoral slaveowners, the reality is most of them worked hard at being virtuous men. Today’s politicians don’t even try because unless they are independently wealthy it is impossible for them to become elected and remain in office without selling their souls. Plus, our society no longer values virtue and admires virtuous women and men. Six decades of sexual freedom, welfare, progressive education, and media glorification of sex have erased all moral standards and taught the population that self indulgence is the definition of freedom.
We see the Republican Party adapting to the times. The leaders have decided to stop espousing “outdated” conservative ideals and join the Democrats in giving bread and circuses to the masses. After all, it is so much easier.
Or it could be that he’s just a liar and first rate asshat. I’ve heard more than couple stories about how he treats waiters, waitresses, store clerks and flight attendants. Hopefully now that he’s a governor none of those people will have to hear “Do you know who I am?!” Come out of his pie hole again.
“Or it could be that he’s just a liar and first rate asshat. I’ve heard more than couple stories about how he treats waiters, waitresses, store clerks and flight attendants.”
Unfortunately most people who hold positions of power and privilege in this day and time perceive themselves as superior human beings. The elites today do perceive themselves to be superior to the common folk and deserving of special consideration. Not unlike the English upperclass of a century ago.
Many people go into politics for ego gratification. They want people to fawn over them and they want to lord their superior position over others.
Once these people attain their position of power they can be easily manipulated by greater powers. Perhaps their poor treatment of average citizens is a reaction to how they are treated by their masters.
So he says he’s against socialized medicine, but he’s not actually against it, he’s just against paying for it out of his own budget.
Duly noted.
Madness.
Those who know what is going on will note that Kasich made this decision in the context of a complex multiyear reform effort. Last year for example, he began by cutting 1.2 billion from the state medicaid budget. How does that grab you?
And he is hip deep in reorganization of the whole state system to enable small rural hospitals, which cover most of Ohio, to survive in the face of federal cuts which would other wise drive them bankrupt.
None of you care about these facts and details though, because you don't have to. So much easier to just smart off.
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