Posted on 07/09/2013 9:48:18 PM PDT by Deadeye Division
Less than a week after state lawmakers adjourned for summer recess, Gov. John Kasich and other supporters of expanding Medicaid gathered in the statehouse today to urge legislators to return to Columbus to extend tax-funded health coverage to tens of thousands poor, uninsured Ohioans.
“As Americans we need to beat back this notion that when somebody’s poor, somehow they are lazy,” Kasich told a crowd of several hundred.
“We will work with the legislature to make sure that there are opportunities in vocational education and training and some real discipline, but that should not allow this notion in our country, this growing notion, particular among those people who have, that those that do not have are somehow lesser.”
Supporters say they want lawmakers to return to Columbus before the end of the summer to approve legislation to expand Medicaid to an estimated 275,000 people with incomes up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level, or about $15,800 a year.
GOP leaders in the House and Senate last month rejected a provision in fellow-Republican Kasich’s budget plan to authorize expansion, but promised to continue working on separate legislation through the summer.
The proposal stalled over the concerns of conservative lawmakers who argued that that the federal government can’t afford to expand Medicaid and states could get stuck with the tab. They also wanted assurances that Medicaid recipients would participate in job training.
House Speaker William G. Batchelder, R-Medina, has said lawmakers this fall could vote on Medicaid “reforms” which presumably would include expansion. His spokesman did not return a message left earlier today seeking comment.
“You need to see the senators and representatives that represent you...make it clear that saying no is not an option,” Kasich told supporters.
Earlier, however, Democratic leaders said Kasich must do more to “put the screws to members of his party to get action.”
“We’re running out of time. We’re frustrated,” said Rep. Mike Foley, “We don’t have any firm timeline on when any meetings will take place...this is crunch time.
“He’s got to utilize his position as leader of the Republican party (to put) people on the spot.”
Expanding Medicaid would provide health coverage primarily to adults under age 65 without dependent children, including 55,000 with mental illness and 26,000 veterans. (Seniors, children and most parents and disabled adults are already covered to that income level.)
According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, 24 states will expand Medicaid next year while 21 opted out. Debate is ongoing in six states including Ohio and neighboring Indiana, Michigan and Pennsylvania.
There is no deadline for expanding Medicaid, however, under the Affordable Care Act, the federal government will pay 100 percent of expansion costs for three years beginning Jan. 1 and 90 percent or more for the next seven years. Kasich administration officials say expansion will save Ohio $400 million over the next two years, primarily by shifting health-care costs now paid by the state to the federal government.
While some opponents of Medicaid expansion have linked it to “Obamacare,” Kasich says he does not see the connection.
“It may have been provided in there,” Kasich said. “But (the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that) states can have the option of extending their Medicaid coverage. I’ve never been a supporter of Obamacare.”
ccandisky@dispatch.com
But lazy usually equals poor.
Let’s see the Data??? how many poor are not Lazy? what’s the figures? I’m betting that 80% of the poor ARE LAZY and living on the system. No Smoking, no drugs, no alcohol and we will help you. Now you’re talkin.
Kasich, just give me my 0bamaphone and shut up.
But welfare usually equals lazy.
Sounds like Kasich may have gone over to the dark side.
He has always been on the dark side. He was a backstabbing little pimp when he was a congressman. He was a strong supporter of Clintons semi auto ban. More recently he ensured that Ohio will be under the jackboot of Obamacare.
No wonder Hannity likes him, an establishment RINO.
“As Americans we need to beat back this notion that when somebody’s poor, somehow they are lazy,” Kasich told a crowd of several hundred.
As Americans we need to beat back this notion that when somebody’s poor, I owe them a living out of my own pocket.
Kasich urges his party to expand Medicaid
http://www.toledoblade.com/Politics/2013/07/10/Kasich-urges-his-party-to-expand-Medicaid-Copy.html
““As Americans we need to beat back this notion that when somebody’s poor, somehow they are lazy,” Kasich told a crowd of several hundred. “
And someone needs to say that
““As Americans we need to beat back this notion that when somebody’s white, somehow they are Racist,”
“As Americans we need to beat back this notion that when somebody’s wealthy, somehow they are evil,”
Don't pander for the black vote; you're not gonna get it.
no matter what the cause
the “poor” do not have a right to my income
Ha bitzy is the buttboy for the GOP-E
Says the governor of one of the states that allows massive voter fraud.
Color me surprised.
No, no one has a right to someone else’s income. Ideally, help for the poor would come from their community in the form of personal charity like it used to. We know on a community level who is truly needy and who are slackers.
Even within the current system, if I knew my tax dollars were going to help the truly needy *in the way it’s supposed to work* (i. e., a temporary safety net), I wouldn’t mind. Nearly every day, there are posts from Freepers hit hard by this lousy economy who are desperately trying to get on their feet again. Send THEM my tax dollars not the tattooed baby mama in front of me using her welfare for junk food and her cash for the booze in her cart.
The system will never work because it can never be policed on a governmental level, nor do they have any interest in doing so.
Kasich, Dems spar on rally for Medicaid expansion
Bump
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