They're NOT Republicans! They're RINOs, ME-TOOs, and traitors!

Analysis: Not all Republicans oppose Medicaid expansion for Maine

AUGUSTA — A handful of Republican lawmakers, if they haven't already, are about to become the most popular — or, depending on your perspective — among the most reviled legislators in the weeks ahead.

** Republican leaders and LePage say the state's low-income health care program is a constant source of budgetary woe for the state. Expanding it, they say, would be a massive expansion of welfare.

** They (Democrats) maintain that the expansion, because it would largely be paid for with federal funds, would pump $700,000 a day into the state's economy.

** Republicans, pointing to a recent report produced by a private consultant (Alexander) hired by the LePage administration ($925,200), say an expansion would cost the state more than $800 million over the next 10 years.

** Democrats estimate the expansion would give health care to about 70,000 more low-income Mainers; Republicans say the figure is more like 100,000.

** "Adding 100,000 able-bodied people to Medicaid is just a bad idea when it comes to our state’s budget and the ability of taxpayers to sustain it," said David Sorensen, a spokesman for House Republicans. "We don’t intend on meeting halfway on a bad idea.

They may be able-bodied, but they are out of work.  LePage's policies have done little to improve the state's economy, which might provide jobs for these "able-bodied" "layabouts".  If the rate of unemployment was near zero, I'd agree with the Tea Party.  If they are "able-bodied" but choose not to work, then no benefits.

** And while most Republicans are digging in their heels, a few, including Wilson and Rep. Jarrod Crockett, R-Bethel, say there's more room for compromise on the issue than the party stalwarts are letting on.

I know Jarrod Crockett, and he is no RINO.

** Wilson (R) is careful to say he's not a flat-out yes vote on expansion, but he would support that if the legislation also aims to control costs and improve the quality of the medical care that's delivered to MaineCare recipients.
"To me, we can use (expansion) as an opportunity to put in measures to control costs," Wilson said.

** The high cost of care, not necessarily the number of people using MaineCare, is the biggest problem with the system now, Wilson said.

BINGO!

** The offer on the table so far expands eligibility for an estimated 70,000 more Maine people, but it defunds that expansion in 2016 if a future legislature chooses not to continue it.

** James Melcher, a political science professor at the University of Maine at Farmington, said Maine's Legislature has plenty of independent-minded Republicans. "Many Rs in the Legislature have shown a willingness to go against the governor's policies generally at times, even when LePage is vocal about them," Melcher wrote in an email message to the Sun Journal.

** Other states headed by Republican governors (e.g., John Kasich, Rick Snyder) have decided to accept the federal funding to expand Medicaid in their states and some will see that as a sign Maine should do the same.

** The Maine Hospital Association and the Maine Medical Association have come out in favor of the expansion.

** Dan Demeritt, a Republican consultant who is working for the Maine Medical Association, said he believes more Republicans will want to support an expansion than the party's talking heads let on. "It's a lot easier to draw a line in the sand than it is to build consensus," said Demeritt, who once served as LePage's spokesman. "That's what governing looks like. When you say no, that ends the discussion; 'maybe' keeps it going," Demeritt said.

It's a lot easier to just say NO to everything than to take the time to think things through and come up with a plan that works for everyone.  The Tea Party is the LAZY Party.

** Crockett said if Democrats are willing to go along with some other welfare reforms being proposed by Republicans, including to require welfare beneficiaries to show they are looking for work and some reforms on Electronic Benefit Transfer cards, then he believes Democrats will get the votes they need for an expansion.

Absolutely, these changes are needed.

** "Everybody acknowledges that we've got to reduce the costs of health care," Crockett said. "I would be willing to go along with it, but I want to see some kind of compromise on the bill."

You see, for the Tea Party, it has nothing to do with the money.  It's all about ideology and making sure Corporate America and the wealthy are taken care of. If it were truly about the money, they would be in favor of eliminating government subsidies and tax breaks for Corporate America and the wealthy. But, they are not.  In their minds, the so-called "job creators" must be protected!

SJ Link

The words I was searching for...

Why do "stalwart Republicans"
By WAYNE HEYWARD, Community Member, Sabattus — Sat, 01/18/2014 - 23:08

Why do "stalwart Republicans" persist in the delusion that all of the people who are slated to join MaineCare on the expansion are "able bodies workers"? For that matter, why do they persist in the delusion that "able bodied worker" = "able to pay exorbitant fees for private insurance"?