In today's St. Louis Post Dispatch there are 3 editorials that deal specifically with the ongoing effort to end Medicaid in Missouri.
The first editorial states:
But even as they cut off health care for the neediest of their fellow Missourians, state lawmakers made sure they got theirs. Lawyers, executives, engineers and entrepreneurs in Missouri's Legislature wanted no part of measures that would have cut their own taxpayer-subsidized health insurance. The House voted down a proposal to increase lawmakers' monthly insurance premiums by $115. A similar proposal was dead on arrival in the Senate
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/editorialcommentary/story/190C6164F26D299E86256FF5
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To sum it up our state legislators are blasted for their own selfishness concerning their personal state subsidized health care plans and the callousness that they have towards the poor in the state.
Next there is an editorial that shows a few of the homes that those that voted to cut off Medicaid for the poor live in. One of the photos shows a home that was valued at almost $1,000,000.
And they couldn't come up with an extra $115 for their own insurance policy?
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/editorialcommentary/story/68E11316A6D7664286256FF5
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Finally the third editorial gives a list of the legislators that voted against the increase in their own health care and the amount that the state spends to subsidize their health care plans, along with each legislator's office phone number.
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/editorialcommentary/story/C0DF35F2FC4F873086256FF5
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This statement from Jim Lemke pretty well sums up the attitude our representatives have toward the neediest Missourians.
Rep. Jim Lembke, R-St. Louis County, is outraged that anyone would challenge his entitlement to health care. There is no comparison, he said, between poor people "getting health care for free" and lawmakers who work for it.
I hope that there will be a few readers from Missouri that will take the time to look and see if their representative voted against the increased insurance premium and how much the state is spending to subsidize their insurance.
I doubt that it will make much difference but maybe some phone calls will tweak their consciences.
Missouri - 1st in the race to that wonderous time in history called the Gilded Age