The opponents of Obamacare warn that it’s a fool’s game of bait and switch. They argue that the federal government will be broke soon and Mississippi will have to one day foot the bill. Please. The United States is the richest, most powerful country in the world and it prints the world currency. It is not going broke. And even if it does, why not take the billion dollars a year while it lasts. Think about it. If someone offered you a billion dollars a year for three years, would you turn it down because they might not give you a full billion dollars in the fourth year? Of course not. You’d take the money while it lasted. This is not rocket science. This billion dollars would have a huge effect on the growth and prosperity of Mississippi. This money would fund hospitals, clinics, physicians and the entire health care industry in our state. In many Mississippi towns, the hospital is the biggest employer.
Mississippi’s Republican leaders think nothing of giving millions to mega corporations in the name of job creation, yet they turn down a billion dollar economic windfall for our medical industry. There is now an alternative to a simple expansion of Medicaid and further federal intrusion. Mississippi Democrats recently held a press conference at the state capitol announcing they would agree to use the federal money to subsidize private medical insurance. All the details have not been worked out, but the feds are actively working with several states to implement this alternative. Working families would get federal subsidies to buy private health insurance. This is a real compromise.
The state’s Democrats have shown a way to resolve this stalemate. So far, the response from our Republican leadership is nothing but dead silence.
Wyatt Emmerich
Picayune Item
6/24/13
Magnolia Tribune
