Governor Brownback:
Contrary to your allegation,
Obamacare is not failing. That is a Republican fiction created to justify “repeal
and replace” Obamacare. Your words allege, “Americans have seen their health
care costs skyrocket…”. While that may be true, Obamacare doesn’t control
health care costs.
Your words allege
Americans have seen “…their coverage options deteriorate.” I don’t know what
that means, but it isn’t true. Obamacare sets minimum coverage standards for
subsidized policies to insure that access to adequate health care services
exists and that premiums are comparable. Obamacare actually expanded coverage
“options” for the Americans it covers.
Your words allege that
Americans have seen “…their state budgets balloon as a result…” of Medicaid
expansion. You fail to mention that costs
of expanding Medicaid are mainly paid by Federal funds and Medicaid spending
has increased the taxable money in state’s economies.
You claim to have vetoed Obamacare
expansion, but you didn’t. You vetoed participation by Kansans in that part of
the Affordable Care Act that provides for expansion of Medicaid for persons who
do not earn enough to be eligible for Obamacare, but earn too much to qualify
for Medicaid. You also say expansion of Medicaid does not help vulnerable
Kansans. Are not the “vulnerable” already in traditional Medicaid? If not,
expansion to care for them is in order.
You say Medicaid expansion
is “irresponsible and unsustainable”. You assume there is no will or way to
finance health care for Kansans caught in a crevasse between traditional
Medicaid and Obamacare. I doubt your characterization of expansion.
You say that Medicaid
expansion “sends funds to Planned Parenthood and the abortion industry.” This
is true only for those Kansans who would receive health services from Planned
Parenthood. The funds do not benefit the “abortion industry”. Planned
Parenthood is not an abortion provider in Kansas and Federal funds are
prohibited for abortions.
You claim that Medicaid
expansion “prioritizes able-bodied adults above the truly needy” and provides
no “pathway out of poverty”. Since the “truly needy” in terms of income and
disability qualifiers are already served by Medicaid, how does that prioritize
those benefitted by Medicaid expansion ahead of them? Able-bodied adults who
will benefit from Medicaid expansion are often characterized as the “working
poor”. They simply don’t earn enough doing their job to purchase health
insurance. Medicaid expansion was never intended to provide a “pathway out of
poverty”, although many would argue that healthy people are more apt to succeed
in escaping poverty.
You think that you are
“fighting for Kansas”, but you are pitting your office against a great number
of Kansans who need assistance with health insurance to pay for needed care.
