KRUGMAN: "The only way to understand the refusal to expand Medicaid is as an act of sheer spite."

[kpete]

The Spite Club
PAUL KRUGMAN

..................

...the only way to understand the refusal to expand Medicaid is as an act of sheer spite. And the cost
of that spite won’t just come in the form of lost dollars; it will also come in the form of gratuitous hardship for some of our most vulnerable citizens.


................................


Just think about this for a minute. It’s one thing when politicians refuse to spend money helping the poor and vulnerable; that’s just business as usual. But here we have a case in which politicians are, in effect, spending large sums, in the form of rejected aid, not to help the poor but to hurt them.

And as I said, it doesn’t even make sense as cynical politics. If Obamacare works (which it will), millions of middle-income voters — the kind of people who might support either party in future elections — will see major benefits, even in rejectionist states. So rejectionism won’t discredit health reform. What it might do, however, is drive home to lower-income voters — many of them nonwhite — just how little the G.O.P. cares about their well-being, and reinforce the already strong Democratic advantage among Latinos, in particular.

Rationally, in other words, Republicans should accept defeat on health care, at least for now, and move on. Instead, however, their spitefulness appears to override all other considerations. And millions of Americans will pay the price.

MORE:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/07/opinion/krugman-the-spite-club.html?ref=paulkrugman&_r=0

[The Magistrate]

1. The Line Of Attack, Ma'am, Leaps Out From This....

'Gov. X woke up this morning intending to kill five Americans, five residents of your state. Spent the day killing them. Fully intends to wake up tomorrow and kill five more. And five more the day after. And five more the day after that. Gov. X murders five of your fellow citizens every single day he is in office, and will continue to murder five people every day he is in office. That is what he is in office to do; murder five people a day, every day. He will murder five people a day in our state until he is stopped. Murderers don't belong in the governor's mansion --- murderers belong in jail."

( crude numbers; not implementing the Medicaid expansion will kill about 19,000 yearly in fourteen states, which is about sixty a day over-all, which is about four or five per state on average )

[appal_jack]

5. Excellent, excellent point, Magistrate. K&R for you & Krugman both, n/t.

[Melissa G]

6. +1

Excellent point.

[bemildred]

2. Yep, I think he's finally got it. They feel rejected. nt

[mopinko]

3. and cost more in the end.

treatable illnesses turn into permanent disabilities pretty quick without medical care.

[mindwalker_i]

4. There's a better explanation

The Republicans want to maximize the profits of their campaign contributors, in this case Big Medical. Obamacare is putting the brakes on the rapidly increasing profits in the medical industry - see CA, hell see Canada or other developed countries. Hence, they will do absolutely anything they can do to stop it, including this seemingly ridiculus opt-out of Medicaid, in the hopes that somehow it will cause Obamacare to fail and eventually be repealed.

Helping or hurting people, especially poor people who don't contribute to Republican campaigns, doesn't enter into the equation.