And it’s only going to get worse.
Today the Kaiser Family Foundation released a study related to job-loss during the coronavirus pandemic and the loss of employer-sponsored health insurance. Texas already had the highest rate of uninsured in the nation with 5 million. Now, 22% of all Texans (6.6 million) do not have health insurance.
Before the coronavirus pandemic, it was estimated an average of 730 Texans lost their lives every year because they didn’t have access to adequate healthcare. Now that we have a fresh 1.6 million uninsured, that number is likely to go up.
Expand Medicaid
Texas remains one of the 14 states which did not expand the Medicaid option. The other 13 states are also GOP controlled. Greg Abbott refuses to expand it, no matter how many lives it will save.
The Trump administration had added waivers for red states. Mostly, it was because, even though the GOP thinks poor people don’t deserve healthcare, he couldn’t win the fight to cut it completely.
The waivers, however, do make it harder for people in the states with the Medicaid expansion to get Medicaid by adding work requirements, tighten eligibility, or make beneficiaries responsible for out of pocket co-pays and deductibles. But even that wasn’t enough for Greg Abbott.Â
From Politico: For Abbott, who declined multiple interview requests through a spokesman, talking about health care is a liability in a state where Obamacare remains deeply unpopular and conservative groups, like Empower Texans, deride Republicans who want to expand coverage as “liberals.”
Greg Abbott is constantly throwing Texans under the bus for Empower Texans. He will sacrifice every man, woman, and child in Texas for the sake of money.
What does Abbott say are his reasons?
I have been trying to find any statement or interview where Greg Abbott directly says the reason why he won’t expand Medicaid. The only thing I could find was an article that cited him saying it was wrong for Texas. I also found a bunch of conservative articles talking about state’s rights and sovereignty under the constitution bullshit. Many of them say this will cost Texas money, but fail to say how.
Regardless, Texas’ response with the coronavirus just goes to show everyone, Greg Abbott and all of Texas GOP is money over human lives. This is why, in Texas, we all have to vote for change.
Currently, the parents of a family of 4 can’t qualify for Medicaid if they make over $285 a month. Adults without children DO NOT qualify for Medicaid at all unless they are disabled or pregnant.
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Rural hospitals
Because there are so many uninsured people in Texas, they often have to go to hospitals for nearly everything, including the seasonal flu. This is because they won’t have to pay the hospital at the time of service like they would have to at a doctor’s office.
Over the last decade, 22 rural hospitals in Texas have closed, and during the pandemic, countless more are facing big shortfalls. That means more job losses and more uninsured. That means some people in Texas won’t have to drive an hour to the nearest hospital anymore, they’ll have to drive two.
Greg Abbott isn’t expanding the Medicaid option because of costs, either. By expanding Medicaid, would save federal, state, and local governments $30 billion a year. Right now, they help offset the costs for hospitals that treat uninsured patients. The states which got the Medicaid expansion saw a huge decrease in the amount of money they had to shell out to hospitals for uninsured patients.
If Greg Abbott expanded Medicaid, it would save thousands of lives.
Greg Abbott is an incompetent leader who has hurt Texans more in the last 5 years as governor than the two dumbasses before him did in 15 years. Abbott isn’t up for election this cycle, but dozens of other Texas Republicans are. It is time for a blue wave in Texas, this year we take back the house and the senate and in 2022 we get out Abbott.Â
Call your congressperson!
Tell them you want Medicaid expanded.
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