Some North Carolina Republican lawmakers unveiled a proposal that conservatives say is simply Medicaid expansion by another name. The lawmakers say it's not.
But Leah Byers at NC Civitas explains how similar it is to last year's failed attempt from these same legislators:
The HB655 proposal has almost all of the same characteristics of Carolina Cares. To recap, the government-issued insurance program:
Is administered through the federal and state Medicaid program departments.
Receives federal funding through a 1115 waiver at a rate of 90 percent, the same as Medicaid expansion in other states.
Has the same negative consequences of traditional Medicaid expansion, including limiting access for those that need it most and putting the state’s finances in jeopardy.
The major addition to this year’s version of Carolina Cares is the creation of a grant program that sends tax revenue to healthcare providers in rural areas. The bill also clarifies that the program will cease to exist if the federal match falls – a shallow promise, no doubt, since it would be politically impossible to revoke health insurance coverage once it is granted.
She has a lot of good links in the piece detailing how Medicaid expansion would not actually help the very people that expansion advocates claim to want to help.
As I've said for years - coverage is not care. Medicaid is the poster child for this truism. Expanding it to cover more healthy, able-bodied people will only reduce the ability of existing enrollees to get care.
Pete's Prep: Wednesday, April 10, 2019
From the Washington Post: Doctors find four bees living in a woman's eye, feeding off her tears.
GeekWire reports on the first images of a black hole from the new Event Horizon telescope project.
The New York Times has a piece about how folks live off the trash of their wealthy neighbors in the leftist paradise of San Francisco.
From the Asheville Citizen-Times: the best - and worst - days to fill up your gas tank.
Another Democratic lawmaker enters the race for President, and he calls for a mandatory "buyback" of all semi-automatic rifles.
From Stacey Matthews at RedState.com: "Beto’s Iowa City Rally Was so Bad a Student Standing Next to Him at a Bathroom Sink Didn’t Recognize Him"