Dear Gov. Jindal,
Please change your mind and accept the Medicaid expansion that would
provide health insurance for hundreds of thousands of citizens of
Louisiana and which would also create much-needed jobs in the state.
Whatever your ideological objections to the program, Louisiana stands to
lose 1.566 billion dollars. That's billions lost to the state budget
that is often in arrears and requires last minute cuts in programs and
institutions that have already been cut to the bone.
Whatever
may happen in nine years when the state has to pay 10% of the costs, you
will be long gone from the scene, but citizens in Louisiana need health
insurance right now. Without the Medicaid expansion, people in
Louisiana will almost certainly die from treatable diseases and
conditions because of the lack of health insurance, either because
treatment was started too late, or because treatment was inadequate.
Whatever your intentions, on the surface it appears that you refuse the
money for the sake of furthering your political ambitions on the
national scene. Since you first assumed the office of governor in
Louisiana, your extensive travels campaigning around the country for
political purposes leave you little time in the state where you were
elected. Isn't it time to pay attention to the needs of the people of
the state?
You are a Catholic Christian, Gov. Jindal. Have you
read the social justice teachings of the Catholic Church or listened to
the words of Pope Francis about the poor and downtrodden? I simply
cannot comprehend your decision not to accept the funds. A good many
Republican governors have laid aside ideology and political ambitions
and chosen to accept the Medicaid expansion for the sake of their poor
and low income citizens. Why not you?
Sincerely,
June Butler
UPDATE FROM TPM:
Low income people want to obtain health insurance...
But in 25 states,
that robust interest has a downside: Navigators are forced to tell more
and more people that they probably won't be able to get covered because
their states, all of which had a GOP-controlled legislative chamber or
governor, have refused to expand Medicaid.
Lynne Thorp, who is overseeing the University of South Florida's
navigator program in that state, told TPM that about one in four people
who contact her team fall into that Medicaid gap.
"Those are hardest phone calls because it doesn't make any sense to
them," Thorp said. "We have to explain that they fall into this gap
where this program can't assist them."
Shameful.
