Bill Minor – Every other developed nation has Healthcare
Bible-totin,’ scripture-quotin’ politicians in Mississippi who wouldn’t be caught outside the church amen pew on Sunday have a problem:
How do they reconcile rejecting some $13 billion in federal money to provide health care coverage for more than 220,000 of Mississippi’s needy citizens with the Bible’s strong message that believers have a duty to help the least of our brethren?
Well, right here in Mississippi we have hundreds of thousands of the least of our brethren. We don’t need to recruit them, they live right alongside us. Now the highest court in the land says it’s up to each state to accept federal funds with a tiny state match under an (almost) universal health care program covering persons with incomes of 138 percent of the poverty level. Every other developed nation has had universal care for years.
Our top three state governmental leaders (all Republicans) say the tiny state tax effort needed to expand the Medicaid program and significantly upgrade health care coverage for thousands Mississippians at the low end of the economic ladder–many who are employed but have no health coverage–will “bankrupt the state.” That’s pure hokum. Fear-mongering of the worst kind.
Bill Minor
7/11/12
Magnolia Tribune
