Tag Archives: Medicaid expansion

Texoblogosphere: Week of March 30th

The Texas Progressive Alliance thinks even Ted Cruz deserves affordable health insurance as it brings you this week’s roundup.

Off the Kuff hears the death rattle of the anti-gay forces.

Harold Cook explains how the “school choice” scam works.

Horwitz at Texpatriate makes an early pick and endorses Sylvester Turner for mayor of Houston.

Libby Shaw at Texas Kaos and contributing to Daily Kos is pleased to know the Houston Chronicle called out Ted Cruz for being all about Ted. The Houston Chronicle Spanks Ted Cruz.

Houston’s LyondellBasell refinery’s management turned off an advance warning system near the front gates of the plant, where striking USW workers walk the picket line. PDiddie at Brains and Eggs says that if this is how they demonstrate their concerns for worker safety, it’s no wonder they won’t end a work stoppage despite the national settlement.

Neil at All People Have Value said you should make an effort with the people in your life as part of a complete outlook on life. APHV is part of NeilAquino.com.

From WCNews at Eye on Williamson. Bad things happen when a bunch of government haters try to run the government like a business. This Is What Happens When We Turn Government Over To Corporations.

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And here are some posts of interest from other Texas blogs.

Nonsequiteuse analyzes Ted Cruz’s font and logo choices.

Paradise in Hell examines the Supreme Court arguments about specialty license plates sporting the Confederate Battle Flag.

Grits for Breakfast hopes the state loses that specialty license plate case, though not for the same reason as the plaintiffs.

Purple City thinks the legislative attempt to kill the private high speed rail line may not amount to much.

Better Texas Blog gamely stumps for Medicaid expansion.

The Texas Election Law Blog explains what recent SCOTUS decisions on voter ID and redistricting have to do with pending litigation over those issues here.

Raise Your Hand Texas testified against the voucher bills in the Senate.

Rice Univ Tree Tunnel

(This week’s feature photo is from the world famous tree tunnels at Rice University in Houston.  Photo credit:  L. Wayne Ashley)

The One Issue Texas Democrats Must Raise This Fall… Now

Regardless of one’s political ideology, all campaigns start to look much the same this time of year as they become obsessed with one thing and one thing only…

TIME.

Everything boils down to time. Can the front-runners run out the clock? Can the under dogs meet and persuade as many voters as it takes to win?? Each hour that slips by is one hour closer to E-Day. No matter how much cash a particular candidate can rack up, the one thing they cannot do is buy more time.

For a certain political party in the the lowest-voting state in the country, there for sure are not enough hours in the day. Not only are Texas Democrats saddled with the immense burden of voter turnout, they also need to stage an historic re-education campaign of Texas voters, who have long been disengaged by vigorous suppressive tactics from the TEApublican oligarchy. For even the best and brightest, this work is a mighty tall order.

But it is still very possible. Some of the ingredients needed to pull off such an upset are already in place… Bright Democratic stars like Wendy Davis and Leticia Van de Putte, a GOTV apparatus larger than any ever before in Texas, and a dedicated, enthusiastic base of support. The well-informed and party faithful will be at the polls in full force this November.

The last ingredient Democrats are still missing? Low turnout, low information voters. Most of the time, these voters are politically disengaged and lower-income. They are people that, by necessity, do not have the “luxury” of engaging in the day-to-day political squabbles.  When you are living paycheck to paycheck, who said what in someone else’s business deal is not gonna impact your life.

The big secret here folks? There is one issue that can reach the Silent Majority better than any other… Medicaid Expansion. Those same low-income, low-information voters are also the people that know the agony of being unable to see a doctor when they are sick or battling a serious ailment. After putting off a bevy of issues, they then know the fear of being forced to go to the Emergency Room from something that could’ve been prevented. They know loved ones and friends who may be around today had they had insurance. If enough of Texans know that a vote for Democrats this fall could be what gives them life-saving health insurance, there’s no question how they will vote.

Stating the position on a couple of websites, though apreciated, is not enough. It’s time to put ads on the air that are crystal clear about where Democrats stand on Medicaid Expansion. Do press conferences on that single issue… Talk to families whose lives could be vastly improved with access to healthcare. Make it a major issue against the Texas GOP the same way Davis and Van de Putte have done with Education.

The chorus of those who favor Expansion is growing, and growing fast.  Take this recent editorial from the Beaumont Enterprise

 

Republicans don’t like Obamacare. We get that – and the law is not perfect. But it has been upheld by the Supreme Court and is in effect. In fact, it will be unless or until Republicans retake Congress and the presidency – which is a tall order. So every year that Republicans refuse to accept expanded Medicaid in Texas under Obamacare is another year they leave money on the table – lots of it, as in $100 billion in federal funds from 2014 to 2023.

It’s time for a rational compromise. When the Legislature convenes in January, Republican members and top elected statewide officials should accept Medicaid expansion at least on a temporary basis. If Obamacare is repealed at the national level after the 2016 elections, the issue becomes moot. But as long as Obamacare remains in effect – and again, that might be a long time – Texas would be eligible for those many billions of dollars to help provide health care to low-income residents who don’t have it.

This is hardly a radical idea. Republican governors in other states like New Jersey, Arizona, Ohio and Florida have done the same math and decided that the rational thing to do would be to accept Medicaid expansion whether they like Obamacare or not (and they don’t).

 

The same can be said of the Texas Organizing Project, who have made Medicaid Expansion a central focus of their efforts during the Fall election cycle.  Here’s more on that from Alexa Ura of the Texas Tribune

 

The conversation was familiar for Ornelas, who goes door to door to talk to residents as part of efforts by the Texas Organizing Project to increase voter participation among minorities. The group’s field organizing team often meets minority voters who list health care as a top concern, and it is looking to leverage that issue to get more Hispanic voters to the polls in November.

Since the Affordable Care Act passed in 2009, Republican leaders in Texas have opposed expanding Medicaid to cover poor, uninsured adults, saying the system is broken and should be overhauled before it is expanded. The issue of Medicaid expansion resonates strongly with Hispanics, who make up a large portion of the state’s uninsured population.

In Harris, Dallas and Bexar counties — three of the state’s most populous counties — The Texas Organizing Project is working to use Hispanic support of affordable health care to spur a movement that could change the state’s electoral tide.

The group’s leaders said they believe their efforts, which include 200 canvassers and phone bankers, will be successful because the individuals they are working with are receptive to candidates who support the federal health law regardless of political affiliation.

“These aren’t people who are worried about turning Texas blue,” said Ginny Goldman, executive director of the Texas Organizing Project, which has endorsed Democratic candidates who are supportive of the health care law. “Not only will we support Republicans who are on our side of the issues, but we’ll take on Democrats who are not.”

As TOP knows, time is of the essence. The last day to register to vote is October 6th. Knowing where political leaders stand on Medicaid Expansion may be just the issue to take many people off of the fence, and over to the ballot box.

While it’s important to recognize the lone Republican voices out there like Harris County Judge Ed Emmett who supports Medicaid Expansion, this is still an issue being led by Democrats, at least for the foreseeable future.  The vast majority of Texas Republicans, despite mounting evidence showing that the state is running out of options, remain staunchly opposed to helping Texas families.  In 2014, their only hope to have healthcare options lies with Wendy Davis, Leticia Van de Putte and their supporters.  The ticking louder by the hour to E-Day.  Let’s hope Texas Democrats go big on healthcare before it’s too late.

Texas Health Scare: Helping vs Hurting

Here’s more evidence that Texas GOP Congress members really are in a pickle over the Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare), despite what they say to the contrary. From reporter Emily Wilkins of the Dallas Morning News

Aides to Dallas Rep. Jeb Hensarling’s office recently said that he would gladly help any constituent having trouble enrolling in a health plan under the Affordable Care Act.

“Providing outstanding constituent service is a top priority,” an aide said, and that includes “their dealings with all federal agencies and bureaucracies.”

The next morning, Hensarling joined other House Republicans in voting for the 41st time to repeal the law. That illustrates how Texas Republicans are in the position of helping constituents with a program they are simultaneously attempting to derail as the next major step of Obamacare is drawing near.

On Oct. 1, the insurance marketplace will open and 6 million uninsured Texans must pick a plan or face a tax penalty. Organizations working to help North Texans understand the new health care act said they haven’t heard much from federal lawmakers. [note: the enrollment period starts October 1st, 2013 and ends March 31st, 2014.]

“I’ll leave it up to their offices to determine if they feel responsibility to get the word out,” said Tim McKinney, chief executive of United Way of Tarrant County. “I would hope they would.”

[…]

Texas Republicans in Congress universally oppose the new health care law. But a sampling found none who said they would turn away constituents with problems accessing its benefits.

Rep. Michael Burgess, R-Lewisville, calls the law “bad for America” and contends it has the potential to destroy the economy. But he’s kept his staff in touch with the Department of Health and Human Services. And Burgess arranged a meeting with the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services after he felt he wasn’t getting as much information as he needed.

“I’ll share with anyone who calls the information I have,” Burgess said.

Even Sen. Ted Cruz, a leader in efforts to strip funding for implementation of the law, promised to help Texans participate if they call.

“I am honored to represent 26 million Texans,” he recently told CNN. “And dealing with the government is inherently frustrating. It’s inherently confusing, and one of the things our office takes very seriously is trying to help Americans deal with the government.”

To be clear, when the Republicans threaten to “defund Obamacare” they’re basically telling a bald-faced lie. Whatever your conception of Obamacare may be, we are already living under much of the law’s provisions, and reaping substantial benefits from them. Right now, several provisions of the Affordable Care Act are Federal law, including…

— guaranteed coverage for all children with pre-existing conditions.

the right to appeal a health care claim that is denied.

— extension for young adults to stay on their parent’s plan until age 26. That includes anyone that is married or not even living with parents.

— the eradication of lifetime limits. That means if you get sick with an expensive disease, your insurance company can’t drop you once health care expenses pass a certain point.

And a whole lot more. With 20 states already participating in the ACA Medicaid Expansion, millions of Americans now have access to affordable care that they previously did not have available. All of these changes are part of Obamacare. So when the GOP runs around and says they want to repeal it, what they really want to do is take away your right to appeal, stop covering children with pre-existing conditions restore lifetime limits on coverage, and yank Medicaid coverage for the millions that received it under the expansion. They are also betting on you not being able to read, talk to someone about the law, and discover for yourself why so many of these changes are important. This is what they are threatening a government shut-down for… to ruin people’s lives who are already benefitting from Obamacare.

Which is what is so laughable about this article… the audacity of them to proclaim how horrible the Affordable Care Act is, but then to simultaneously be a valuable government resource on the law for their constituents? Do they know that by pledging to “help” their constituents enroll and navigate the exchanges, they are actually making the law even more impossible to dismantle than it already is? 

Senator Ted Cruz is correct on one point… he and his offices do in fact represent all 26 million Texans in the United States Senate, and some of those 26 million Texans will enroll using the Healthcare Exchange. The same goes for Senator Cornyn, Congressman Ted Poe, and all the other 35 Congressional Representatives. But on this issue, the Republicans are not representing Texas very well.

As my former choir director says, “At any point in time, you can only be doing one of two things… helping or hurting. You can’t do both at the same time.” Despite what they may say to reporters, the Texas GOP is squarely in the HURTING column on Obamacare, and the general welfare of the people they serve. They continue to lie and misinform Texans about the provisions of the existing law, and new provisions coming up. Rather than helping constituents to understand the law and it’s wide-range of changes, they skip all substantive information, and instead champion creepy ads like the one from Koch Brothers’ spawn Generation Opportunity.

So please, whatever you do, don’t believe the GOP when they say they’re going to “help” constituents with any part of the Affordable Care Act. The only things they want to help are their political careers.

Previous articles in the Texas Health Scare Series: The Silent Majority, What’s Our Alternative?, MediCaid or CrisisCaid?, and Why Medicaid Matters.