Sunday, November 25, 2012

The Real Reason Walker Doesn't Want To Do The Healthcare Exchanges

Karoli, writing at Crooks & Liars, had the misfortune of watching Scott Walker speaking with Paul Gigot about his abdication of his duties in setting up a healthcare exchange in Wisconsin.

She absolutely nails it in her translation from weasel speak to English:
Finally, on the question of the Medicaid expansion, Walker appears cagy when he says the idea of 100 percent funding is tempting, but you know, that damnable fiscal cliff gets in the way. (It doesn't.) Reading between the lines, I see this as the real excuse for his foot-dragging on expanding Medicaid:

In light of the fiscal cliff and everything else out there, there's a very real possibility even with the next year or two that Medicaid funds to states might be reduced and without true flexibility through block grant, now we have a real tough time dealing with what we have today, let alone anyone.

Whisper with me now: Scotty Walker doesn't really want to cover those poor folks. He just wants the money for them so he can use it for other things, and keep kicking the poor in the teeth for every problem there is for as long as possible. Poor people, after all, shouldn't expect health care.

This is so stupid. The federal government is trying to REDUCE health costs by getting these people covered and in front of doctors before they are so sick the state bears a huge burden, but yeah, poor people. Can't stand the idea of poor folks getting a leg up when Scotty can't control the funds flowing through to them. Plus, fiscal cliff!

Now that I've debunked Scotty's stupid reasoning, let me share with you what my strongest reaction to this segment was. It was the closing:

GIGOT: It is going to be a big debate and we'll watch your decisions carefully.

To which I reply, WHY? Why will we watch Scotty's decisions carefully? Why on earth would we care what Scott Walker does? Because he's done so well managing Wisconsin? Shoot, every Wisconsinite on the planet should be overflowing with gratitude that Walker didn't see a way to profit personally or politically from state-based exchanges and the Medicaid expansion.
Damn, she's good. And I'm not just saying that because she included a couple of links to my stuff, but it does show where she gained her keen insight into the ways of the weasel Walker.

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