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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsHow the NC GOP forced premiums UP
http://www.politicsnc.com/to-spite-your-face/Insurance Commissioner Wayne Goodwin is telling the truth on the GOP. After news came out that North Carolinas insurance rates would be, on average, higher than the nation as a whole, Goodwin told us why. It seems that in their effort to delay and obstruct Obamacare, Pat McCrory and the North Carolina legislature screwed the states citizens. Not that they care.
In those heady days right after they took power, the Republican legislature and McCrory wanted to flex their muscles and showcase their ideological purity by thwarting Obamacare. They rejected the expansion of Medicaid that would have provided insurance, at no cost to the state, to 500,000 people. Then, they told the federal government that the state would not set up an exchange to sell insurance, leaving the task to the federal government.
Their arrogant slaps at Obamas signature program didnt slow down implementation or make the feds blink. They just cost the people of North Carolina more money. The term cutting off your nose to spite your face comes to mind.
Goodwin explains that leaving those people off of Medicaid created a pool of high-risk consumers who would have to purchase health insurance through exchanges. That risk scared off insurance companies, limiting competition and raising rates.
But the General Assembly wasnt just content to reject Medicaid, they passed a restrictive law that basically forbid the Department of Insurance from helping citizens and businesses better understand the law. And by rejecting state-run exchanges, the Republican leaders prevented Goodwin and his staff from recruiting more providers who would have cut the cost through competitionyou know, through the free market.
So McCrory and North Carolinas legislative leaders joined the national GOPs obsession with killing Obamacare. The optics are terrible. They dont have a single message about why they oppose the program other than its Big Government. What the public is starting to hear, though, is, We dont want people to have health insurance.
The North Carolina Republicans were just the party that cut education, limited womens health options and raised taxes on the working poor. Now, they are the party that raised insurance premiums, too.
Roland99
(53,342 posts)and not expanding Medicaid.
Yet another reason why Single Payer is the best solution!
G_j
(40,367 posts)turn down money to help their citizens. Or did that just seem too insane?
Cali_Democrat
(30,439 posts)They struck down that part of the ACA.
Roland99
(53,342 posts)Ikonoklast
(23,973 posts)Republicans got the concession to allow states to forego federal money, letting the "State's Rights!" bunch crow victory.
Republicans in the state deliberately screw over the voters on premiums and health care choices in their efforts to make Obamacare fail.
Voters in that state get really pissed of when they realize they got screwed, they can see other states which are run by Democrats are getting their citizens the best deals they can find.
Voters revolt against Republicans at the state level, whose original plan was to sabotage Obamacare at the state level and call it a failure ends up with them being hoist on their own petard.