My state is so proud of itself: it fought off OBAMACARE
Tennessee's Governor Haslam, not a Dem by any means, stalled for months like a good conservative and did nothing for the working poor in his state. In the meantime he haggled with the administration to "expand Medicaid his way"….and it "was not Obamacare." That was his story and he was sticking to it.
"The governor told a Nashville meeting of the Tennessee Press Association on Thursday that the agreement he hammered out with federal officials over 21 months was the market-oriented approach he thought the Republican-dominated Legislature wanted."
There was a reason for that:
"... Haslam's allies circulated a polling memo to GOP state legislators this week, written by the firm of longtime national GOP pollster Whit Ayres, showing that 85 percent of Republican voters in Tennessee oppose "Obamacare," but just 16 percent oppose "Insure Tennessee."
Haslam was really naive….
The Koch Brothers should really be proud of themselves:
Andrew Ogles, head of Americans for Prosperity in Tennessee, via Chattanooga TFP): “We couldn’t have done this without our grassroots activists showing up to hold their legislators accountable.. Thank you for listening to your constituents and voting to stop Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion in Tennessee.”
Grass roots my butt:The sea of red crowded out representatives of the Tennessee Hospital Association, one of the big advocates of the Medicaid expansion, who were left to stand in the back or unable to get into the room at all. (Tee shirts provided by AFP and KOCH money….)
The Koch Brothers learned early on that "all politics is local" and it is to their benefit to start their influence there.
"It is a smart strategy. The national president of Americans for Prosperity explains, “We fight local issue battles…because they result in good policy outcomes, generally promoting economic freedom via less taxes, less government spending.” He might have also said that this is a good strategy for identifying and cultivating budding politicians who, after taking on local, small-town issues, could move up to state politics and eventually to national levels carrying AFP’s pro-business, free market, anti-regulation message. A Democratic state representative from Coralville got the message about the AFP strategy: “I think right now, too, that they’re doing whatever groundwork they can for the 2014 elections—so any inroads they can make anywhere,” David Jacoby said."
Said Republican Speaker Ron Ramsey:…."Tennessee has always been a well-run, fiscally-responsible state. We could not in good conscience put our stamp of approval on a mere verbal agreement with the Obama administration." (For the record Tennessee receives 41.27per cent of it's annual budget from the government, getting $1.64 back for every dollar it gives the government in taxes…..)
Then there is the GOP Alternative to Obamacare that they hope to implement after gutting the ACA…if they can do it.
The Patient Choice, Affordability, Responsibility, and Empowerment (CARE) Act
In this little gem:
"Republicans want to make it harder for women to prevent themselves from getting pregnant, and then they want to deny women the maternity care they need when they do become pregnant while at the same time making healthcare more expensive for them."
Keep voting for these people, thank them for picking your pockets and making themselves rich, and then wonder why you are the one left holding the bag….
