Friday, July 19, 2013

Perry's Hate Hurts Texans

Earlier this month, the Houston Chronicle’s editorial staff released an opinion article titled, “A Texas Trail to Nowhere.” Though the author’s name is not mentioned in the reading, he or she clearly wrote the article with a predominantly democratic audience in mind. The author talks about how Governor Rick Perry hates Obamacare so much that he had no problem turning down a federal subsidy that would have provided Medicaid to almost 2 million Texans who need it the most.

They also go on to point out that “Republicans argue that Medicaid is a broken system. But if Texas Medicaid is broken, it's because Texas broke it. Our state, not the feds, controls matters such as the amount doctors are paid, the complexity of the paperwork involved and efforts to crack down on fraud. If Texas wanted to fix Medicaid, it could.”

I too have to agree with the author’s argument. This is an issue which could be properly addressed if Texas really wanted to. But with Perry turning down free money and denying assistance to his own people in need, it becomes quite clear that there is no desire to improve the situation at that level. And just as the author suggests, Perry’s arrogance leaves our “federal tax dollars to subsidize Medicaid expansion in other states but not [even] our own,” which just leaves us behind on a dead end road.

The author chooses to end the article on a hopeful note – that maybe, just maybe, the reasoning behind all this is that Perry might have some better ideas stashed away for providing Americans’ healthcare at the presidential level. I seriously doubt it, but let’s hope he does have something good up his sleeve to redeem himself.

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