By SJ Otto
We are about the only industrialized country in the world
that does not have a health care system for all of its people. Not only that,
we have politicians trying to restrict poor people from getting health care. If
I were a Christian I would believe that there is a special place in Hell for
politicians who work so hard to destroy health care for poor people. These
leaders are mean-spirited, spiteful and just down right cruel.
Here are some of the policies they have used to stop our
poorest citizens from getting badly needed healthcare.
Work requirements-
These are already a apart of many welfare requirements for food or cash assistance.
Kansas is a state
that has some of the most restrictive requirements
for any welfare. But people here and around the world believe that health care is
a right. People have a right to be well and be treated when they are sick.
In Kansas
as it is in many states, people are calling for expanding Medicaid, as is
suggested by Obamacare (Affordable Care Act). Governor Sam Brownback is working
the other direction. He wants
work requirements for able bodied people who apply for Medicaid (which in Kansas is actually a
privatized version called KanCare).
Drug Testing-
This is something that Governor Scott Walker of Wisconsin is proud of. He wants to make his
state a model for refusing
people from Medicaid if they have a drug problem. It is like he wants those
who use drugs to die off. This and other restrictions are like a pogrom against
our country's poor. If anyone needs medical treatment it is people on drugs. We
have an opioid epidemic and this guy wants to keep the victims from getting any
treatment or any other kind of medical care. People like him don't mind
spending money putting poor people in jail, but not any public medicine.
Three to five year
limits- The idea is being passed around for a three year lifetime limit to receiving
Medicaid. I heard this announced on NPR Radio that Brownback wants a three year
life time cap for able bodied people who make use of Medicaid. Again, this
equates Medicaid with other welfare benefits. But health care is a right and
not some privilege. Treating health care the same as free money for poor people
is a violation of basic human dignity.
Privatization-
Has been done by Brownback, in an attempt to keep up his ideology that all
government functions are some how evil. He has created
KanCare which allows three companies to try and profit from the sickness of
the poor, disabled and people with severe chronic illnesses. The big difference
here is that he is not just restricting poor people, but also disabled people
as well. The efficiency of KanCare is dismal. It is a huge failure and yet
Brownback keeps it going.
Trump kills
healthcare on the Federal level- Our President, Donald Trump, has worked hard
to dismantle Obamacare. He works at the Federal level to help the pogrom
against the poor. This should surprise no one. He is a hero and advocate of the
wealthy.
There are ways to
fight these ass holes. In Main they
recently voted to expand Medicaid over a Republican governor,
Paul LePage, who has fought kicking and screaming in a battle to
prevent the poor from getting health care. We may not be able to get these scum
bags out of office, but we can work hard to get these issues passed into law. I
is past time to stop the pogrom to kill off poor people.
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