Texas Punishes People For Being Poor

Texas continues to lead the nation with the highest percentage of its population without any kind of health care insurance. More than one out of every four Texans (at least 27%) doesn't have insurance -- and therefore cannot access the preventative care necessary to prevent an early death.

It doesn't have to be that way. As the sign above says, more than a million poor Texans could have been covered with Medicaid (and that figure could be as high as 1.5 million), but the Republican leadership of the state refuses to expand the Medicaid program -- and they refuse to do it in spite of the fact that the federal government would pay for all of the expansion at first (and then 90% of it afterwards). In Texas, health care is not a right. It is a product that is only sold to those with the money to pay for it (or those lucky enough to have insurance provided by their employer).

Texas is not a good state to live in if you are poor. It has the largest number of people and the highest percentage of people who work at or below the minimum wage -- so if you are lucky enough to find work, there is a very good chance it will come with a wage that won't provide a decent standard of living. And you can expect to pay a much higher percentage of that small income in taxes that the rich denizens of the state do -- because Texas has one of the most regressive tax systems in the nation.

But while the high percentage of minimum wage workers is inexcusable, nothing compares to the state Republican-dominated government's refusal to expand Medicaid. This refusal doesn't just keep people in poverty -- it actually kills more than a thousand people each year by denying them preventative care (the care that would identify a serious illness in its early stage and provide treatment that would save a life).

And the craziest part of this is that the Republicans claim to be business-oriented -- but denying Medicaid expansion prevents billions of dollars from entering the state economy (money that would circulate through the economy enhancing businesses of all kinds). That doesn't seem to matter to GOP politicians though. Helping the state economy is not really their concern. Their only concern is being re-elected -- and to accomplish that they are perfectly willing to pander to their teabagger element by supporting policies that punish women and minorities -- and especially the poor.

If you are poor, Texas is a bad state to live in. You will get no help from the state. You will have to work for a poverty wage. And you will be denied life-saving health insurance. In short, you will be punished simply for being poor (by politicians who publicly claim to be christians). Morality, life, economic justice, and brotherhood are not values embraced by Texas GOP politicians (or many of their base voters).