Gov. Pat seeking to “slow down” / derail NCGA’s anti-ObamaCare efforts

 

 

 

 

 

Gov. Pat and his troops are headed to battle stations over  the bill passed by the state Senate which blocks ObamaCare-related Medicaid expansion:

Gov. Pat McCrory says he is worried that a bill the Senate approved Tuesday afternoon could hurt the state’s efforts to get a handle on Medicaid spending. […]

Huh? Expanding Medicaid eligibility — spending MORE government dollars — will help get “a handle” on Medicaid spending??? (Wait. Let me check my driver’s license.  Nope. I definitely wasn’t born yesterday. )  Read ON: 

[…]Fred Steen, McCrory’s legislative liaison, asked lawmakers to hold off on the bill, but senators said it’s important to ensure North Carolina doesn’t get put on the hook for an expansion that it can’t afford.

[…] The North Carolina Institute of Medicine says expanding Medicaid would cover 500,000 uninsured North Carolinians, and other studies show it would create 23,000 jobs and add more than $1 billion to the state’s economy.

Somebody should ask the Democrat hacks who run NCIOM — as well as Binker & Leslie @ WRAL — JUST HOW ObamaCare, which has killed business expansions and jobs by the thousands just in the run up to its implementation, is  going to boost our state’s economy.  Find out what kind of stuff they are smoking at WRAL & NCIOM, while you’re at it.  (Wonder if ObamaCare covers it?)  Read On: 

Senate Democrats said North Carolina pays into the federal Medicaid fund and should get its fair share back.

Sen. Josh Stein, D-Wake, said the state has one of the highest rates of uninsured people in the country, with nearly 20 percent of residents having no health care coverage.

“If we actually help folks get coverage, we will save lives and improve quality of lives. That has unbelievable benefits to the economy in and of itself,” Stein said. […]

THAT argument is SO dishonest.   No one gets turned away from receiving life-saving health care. No one.  You want to get more people insured?  Get your noses out of our business.  De-regulate.  Stop scaring job-creators and let them do what they do best.   You want to  cut the cost of health care?  Back the bureaucrats off of the doctors.  Doctors I know tell me a good chunk of what they charge patients goes to covering the overhead related to complying with government red tape.   Read ON: 

[…] Apodaca countered by saying there’s no such thing as free money, especially when the government is involved.

“It’s still taxpayer dollars,” he said. “With the feds, you never know what they’re going to do to you the next day … so it’s best we look after ourselves on the front end.”

Sen. Ralph Hise, R-Mitchell, said the expansion would hurt rural hospitals by removing people from the private insurance market.

““You cannot operate a hospital when more than 50 percent of your patients would be paid for under the Medicaid system,” Hise said.

“”Is it better to have somebody who has Medicaid or no insurance at all?” Stein responded. […]

 Medicare and Medicaid don’t come close to actually paying for patient care.  Most docs say that taking Medicare and Medicaid patients is not that much different from working for free.  Read ON: 

McCrory said the bill could impact the ability of the state to find funding to revamp the information technology system that monitors Medicaid payments.

North Carolina has a new software program, called NC FAST, that will manage government benefits like Medicaid. The federal government has granted the state more than $40 million to help pay for NC FAST, but the Senate bill would refuse that money, leaving state taxpayers to cover some or all of the cost.

“We’re trying to communicate that to the appropriate members of each body, who are just learning more about some of the details,” McCrory said. “We’re optimistic that we can hopefully work out a deal with the House to deal with some of our concerns about the cost to the North Carolina taxpayers and to make sure we can continue to operate the existing Medicaid program.”

Politicians try to act like they are saving us money if the feds pay for something instead of the state.  WE PAY INTO THE COFFERS OF BOTH ENTITIES.  We’re paying the bill either way.    This Medicaid expansion is not about new software to make the bureaucracy more efficient.  That federal grant is the moral equivalent of a drug dealer giving a free sample to a junkie.  Once the recipient has had a taste, they are hooked and fall under your control.  Taking that money and going along quietly with ObamaCare implementation is like marching to the cliff with the rest of the lemmings.  Foolish.  Read On: 

The Republican governor is working with a Republican-led General Assembly but is finding out that a shared party doesn’t always mean a shared viewpoint.

Ya think ????  We’ve spent a lot of time debating folks who accuse us of “hating” Republicans because we dole out criticism of various GOP  leaders.   Too many Republicans have placed a higher value on electing people with Rs next to their name than on ensuring that those people support the principles of limited government.  Republicans took control of Raleigh because voters did not like the meddling big government nonsense oozing out of Washington.  Read On: 

Hours after McCrory spoke, House Speaker Thom Tillis said he understood the governor’s concerns.

“I remain consistent in my opposition to both an expansion of Medicaid and the establishment of a state-based health exchange in North Carolina,” Tillis said in a statement. “I understand Gov. McCrory’s concerns over funding for information-technology projects within the Department of Health and Human Services. We will work closely with the Governor’s Office to address his concerns in ways that are in the best interest of North Carolina taxpayers.”

Of course.  Somebody is trying to tap-dance around another tough issue to keep himself viable for a 2014 Senate run.  Personally, I smell a sellout headed our way.  (Remember voter ID, the gas tax, and the Racial Justice Act, just to name a few?)  

What the Senate did was a very positive first step.  We need to stay on McCrory and the GOP majority in the state House, to ensure they do the right thing.  We’ve got to look out for ourselves, and take a stand to protect the future of our state and our country.  It’s becoming increasingly clear that a lot of our Republican “leaders” are not looking out for us.