Perry Says Poor Don't Deserve Health Care

Those weren't his exact words, but it is the consequence of his announced policies. Yesterday, Perry announced that as governor of Texas he would not expand Medicaid or create any health care exchange so Texans could but cheaper health insurance. Perry says he is a christian, and makes his religion very public, but he doesn't seem to want to follow the prime commandments of that religion -- to love one's neighbor and to care for the poor and needy. It leads one to think that his very public display of religion is simply a device to get him votes.

The state of Texas leads the nation in the percentage of its large population that has no health insurance at all (about 27%). The Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) would have covered most of those people with insurance. A good portion of them could have bought insurance at lower prices through a state health exchange (with financial help from the federal government). But Rick Perry says the state will refuse to set up a health insurance exchange to allow people to buy less expensive insurance as part of a larger group.

This may not be such a bad thing, because if Texas won't set up such an exchange then the federal government will do it. And frankly, the federal government will probably do a better job of it (since state Republican leadership is in the hip pocket of the giant insurance companies). It does seem strange though that a "states rights" governor like Perry would bypass the chance to do something at the state level and let the federal government do it (especially since it would cost the state nothing either way, since the feds will supply the money to set the exchange up). Is Perry's "states rights" talk just an election ploy like his religion?

But while those making at least 133% of the poverty level will be able to buy health insurance (thanks to the health insurance exchange and financial help from the federal government) in spite of Perry's refusal to help, the poor (those earning less than 133% of the poverty level) are not so lucky. These are the people that would have been covered with health insurance by expanding Medicaid. Since they do not qualify for federal financial help to purchase insurance, and Perry refuses to expand Medicaid, these people will still have to go without any health insurance at all -- condemning many of them to an unnecessarily early death (since their only avenue for care will be an emergency room). These people will receive no preventive care, and by the time they are sick enough to go to an emergency room it will be too late to save many of them.

Perry will of course try to claim that he is saving the taxpayers money. That is just not true. Texas was due to get about $112 billion to expand Medicaid (much more than it would take to do so). But Texans, even though they won't get that money, will still have to pay for the emergency room care -- through higher insurance premiums, higher local taxes, and higher hospital costs. They just won't get any federal help to keep those costs down -- thanks to Perry's political posturing.

And we're not talking about just a few people here. Texas' refusal to expand Medicaid will deny at least 1.8 million people health insurance. Obviously, for Perry (and his Republican cohorts in the state), health care is not a human right. It is a privilege that is available only to those who are rich enough to purchase it. Frankly, that's not just unchristian -- it's immoral and inhumane. I am shocked that any human could take such a hard-hearted stance in these times (when all other developed nations recognize the right to health care for all).

It is obvious by his actions that Rick Perry doesn't think the poor (even though most of them work full-time at low-paying jobs) don't deserve decent health care -- whether he will say it out loud or not. He just doesn't care.