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Problem in WV is how Citizen United groups have managed to frame the election in terms of losing healthcare coverage, period.

For people not in a UMWA health plan, things can get dreary indeed. A family friend of ours had one member needing additional surgery after emergency surgery which the insurance company would only authorize if the person’s PCP — 120 miles away — saw this patient first to recommend a referral.

How’s that for health care in these United States!

UMWA health plans which covered many people in WV have many people convinced health care is free. Now, it’s true miners tend to develop COPD and “black lung.” I have little problem with miners maintaining doctors and other specialists to keep them healthy as long as is possible.

Having said that, the mining companies have done their daggumnist to poison the well, by stacking the deck against miners suffering from “black lung.” A scandal emerged several years back where a doctor at Johns Hopkins got paid to say miners didn’t have the disease. That’s not right.

But neither are miners’ families running to the doctor for every little hangnail, because health care is free. I’ve seen and heard stories like this too often to not believe them. In my view, the whole notion of health care in WV has gotten skewed because, frankly, people don’t want to give up free stuff.

All of this is a long way of saying “Two-faced Joe” has tapped into the traditional Democrat vibe of spending other people’s money.

Same song, different verse.