Florida Group Unloads on "Private Option" Obamacare and the Politicians Who Sold It.
Wow. Some legislatures in other states heard all of the chest thumping that some Arkansas legislators were doing about how great the "Private Option" is. An advocacy group in Florida did a detailed study on the matter and found the same things we did, only they back it up with even more detail and embarrassing (if they have the requisite sense of shame which makes embarrassment possible) quotes from many Arkansas legislators. Read that report here.
Speaking of adding detail, the home team at the Arkansas Project also had a good piece up from Conduit for Action showing why the so-called "triggers" that would end the Medicaid expansion that many legislators to this day are denying is happening cannot be pulled. Several legislators told us that if we did not get some very real reforms or if federal funding was curtailed then the state would automatically withdraw from the program. Those assurances are utterly false as we suspected for a long time. Read the details on why in this report.
And of course six months ago these legislators were telling us we could back out of the plan if we wanted. Today the Director of DHS says that if the legislature fails to fund the "Private Option"/ Obamacare then there "is no plan B." Of course he does not want there to be a plan B, he wants government to expand like all Democrats and most Republicans. Government officials never seem to have a plan B to cut spending, nor do they seem interested in developing one. To listen to them, we must keep growing government end of discussion.
The thing is, government can't continue to grow while our economy doesn't. Taxpayers are backing all this spending and our income is not growing so the spending can't keep growing either. If government, not just with this issue but with all of them, does not get a plan B to reduce spending, economic reality will impose a "plan B" of its own on us. Really, it is time to face up to the reality that we cannot keep spending more money so that we can at least deal with this crisis on our own terms rather than Plan A. Which is to keep ignoring reality and keep spending money that we don't have, until the day we can't.
Speaking of adding detail, the home team at the Arkansas Project also had a good piece up from Conduit for Action showing why the so-called "triggers" that would end the Medicaid expansion that many legislators to this day are denying is happening cannot be pulled. Several legislators told us that if we did not get some very real reforms or if federal funding was curtailed then the state would automatically withdraw from the program. Those assurances are utterly false as we suspected for a long time. Read the details on why in this report.
And of course six months ago these legislators were telling us we could back out of the plan if we wanted. Today the Director of DHS says that if the legislature fails to fund the "Private Option"/ Obamacare then there "is no plan B." Of course he does not want there to be a plan B, he wants government to expand like all Democrats and most Republicans. Government officials never seem to have a plan B to cut spending, nor do they seem interested in developing one. To listen to them, we must keep growing government end of discussion.
The thing is, government can't continue to grow while our economy doesn't. Taxpayers are backing all this spending and our income is not growing so the spending can't keep growing either. If government, not just with this issue but with all of them, does not get a plan B to reduce spending, economic reality will impose a "plan B" of its own on us. Really, it is time to face up to the reality that we cannot keep spending more money so that we can at least deal with this crisis on our own terms rather than Plan A. Which is to keep ignoring reality and keep spending money that we don't have, until the day we can't.
posted by Mark Moore (Moderator) at Wednesday, January 22, 2014
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