Republican governors and Medicaid

Some of my friends have noticed that I am walking like an old man. I am an old man, but I’m walking like a really really old man.  Evidently I have some form of arthritis, and it has advanced rather fast.  My family doctor referred me to a rheumatologist, and I recently had thirteen vials of blood drawn for various tests.  I have also undergone two rounds of therapy for my left shoulder, but that didn’t help, so last week I had an M.R.I., which showed a torn tendon at the rotator cuff.  I expect I’ll get some kind of medicine for the arthritis and probably some surgery for the shoulder.

I’m lucky.  I have Medicare.  Thank you Democratic Party and Lyndon Baines Johnson.  I also have medical insurance thorough my retirement.  Thank you California Faculty Association, AFL-CIO, for those contract negotiations.  I hate to think of what my life would be like without the medical care I receive.  

What about people in Texas and Louisiana and Wisconsin who have no insurance and don’t qualify for Medicare, but could benefit from Medicaid expansion guaranteed under Obama administration programs now in place?  Sorry.  Republican governors of those states are turning down federal money for Medicaid recipients to make some sort of ideological point. 

Let’s be honest about this.  Those Republican governors are saying to thousands of their constituents:  if you need pain medication, suffer.  If you need rotator cuff surgery, suffer.  If you need cancer treatment, die. I know that is harsh.  It is also the truth.