Well, there you have it. In a nutshell.
We can make all the economic, humanitarian, and legal arguments we want, but if the person we're talking to doesn't "believe that it's the government's job to cover these people," then screw it. End of conversation.
That was Arizona Republican Representative John Kavanagh yesterday, speaking about a proposed compromise plan that would enable the state's Medicaid program to cover more people than the two heartless plans under consideration. Kavanagh is Senate President Russell Pearce's go-to guy in the House; he's been the loudest knuckle-dragger supporting SB 1070 and Pearce's other bigoted bills. Last year when Pearce was pushing his ethnic studies ban for public schools, Kavanagh was the dim bulb who told critics of the bill:
"If you want a different culture, then fine, go back to that culture."
Only problem, John: A lot of these critics teach Native American studies or Hispanic courses. Remember, this place was Mexico until 1848. They have no other place to "go back to." Their people were sorta here hundreds or even thousands of years before your savior Brigham Young showed up. So maybe you should pack your bags and "go back to" the hills of Palmyra.
Unfortunately, for thinking and caring Arizonans, Representative Kavanagh is also Chair of the House Appropriations Committee, where all budget bills are eventually heard, and Medicaid is a huge budget concern -- nearly $10 billion.
Officially, the state's Medicaid program is known as the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System (AHCCCS). Until just a few years ago, AHCCCS was a model program, one other states looked up to. Today ... not so much. Depending on whose numbers you accept, AHCCCS covers between 1.3 and 1.8 million Arizonans, most of them poor, disabled, and children; half in fact are children. The state contributes about $2 billion to the program, which is more than matched by $7.5 billion from D.C.
The Federal money comes with strings of course, which the states-rights wingers here would love to ignore; they're even creating a "nullification" committee that provides a legislative mechanism to disregard inconvenient Congressional mandates. But rejecting Medicaid's red tape means forfeiting a big pile of Federal dollars that aids the public and keeps hospitals open. Do they really hate Obama that much that they'd turn back billions of bucks just to make their sick political point? Given that the Arizona Senate is 21-9 Republican, the House is 40-20 Republican, and the majority of those majorities is under the thumb of Hater-in-Chief Senator Russell Pearce, it's not unimaginable that they'll abolish the entire Medicaid program. After all,
"I just don't believe that it's the government's job to cover these people."
It is government's job, of course, to provide tax cuts and incentives to corporations, something Kavanagh has consistently supported. But a helping hand for "these people," by which he means the poor and non-white ... eh.
Plan A: Shittier
Not counting the compromise that healthcare providers introduced yesterday, two other budget-cutting measures are on the table -- neither of them attractive. Late last year Governor Jan Brewer started swinging her Medicaid budget-cutting axe when she reneged on nearly 100 organ transplants that had previously been approved. That cruel measure saved the state all of $1.5 million, and at least two of the patients have since died. So, 100 people are not worth $1.5 million ... do the math.
That wasn't enough for the Governor, so last month she introduced her new and improved AHCCCS plan, one that would knock about 280,000 people off the rolls. The only problem was that her deep cuts ran afoul of Federal policies, so she introduced legislation to seek an exemption from Health and Human Services, as reported by the Arizona Republic:
Gov. Jan Brewer signed legislation Friday morning that will formally allow the state to seek permission from the federal government to drop 280,000 people from Arizona's Medicaid rolls.
I've previously diaried about the technicalities that required Arizona to seek the exemption, so if you're curious about that it's here. Needless to say, many in Arizona thought HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius would reject Brewer's petition, and then she and the Republicans could blame the state's fiscal shit hole on Obama. To their surprise Sebelius approved Arizona's request, which the Governor maintains will save $541 million -- a figure the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities certainly questions.
There is another problem with the Governor's scheme. Last year Arizona voters approved a proposition that requires the state to cover every citizen who earns less than poverty level, and the state Constitution shields voter-approved laws from legislative manipulation. Whoops!
Plan B: Shittiest
Regardless, Brewer's plan retains most Federal funding and only kicks 280,000 out of the program. That wasn't good enough for Pearce's Sagebrush Rebellion Senate, so last month his Appropriations Chair Andy Biggs introduced SB 1519, which essentially eliminates Arizona's 30-year Medicaid program and replaces it with a state-managed sham that will cover at best 80,000 to 100,000 people -- not the current 1.3 to 1.8 million served by AHCCCS. Again, do the math. As Republican Senator Rich Crandall said, if the bill is signed into law this summer, every rural hospital in the state will be closed by Christmas. Happy holidays.
The bill's key sponsor and Appropriations Committee Chair Andy Biggs, who made his fortune by winning $10 million from Ed McMahon's sweepstakes (no shit), says in his best John Kavanagh impersonation that any form of government healthcare is "socialism." Doesn't matter if it helps people, provides jobs, and keeps hospitals open ... it's socialism!! Backing up Biggs at the Committee hearing with his own version of John "It's not the government's job" Kavanagh was Born Again "Christian" Ron Gould, who said while casting his vote to eliminate Medicaid:
"I have no sympathy for people who don't pay their way in life."
Yeah, those damn poor children who make up half of the AHCCCS patients ... not paying "their way in life."
For her part, even Governor Brewer thinks Pearce and his Merry Punksters have gone overboard with SB 1519. She and her AHCCCS director Tom Betlach said the bill would "cripple" the state and cause "economic devastation" -- shutting down most rural hospitals and throwing thousands of doctors, nurses, and support staff out of a job:
"Unemployment would skyrocket.... This bill does not even provide sufficient funding for our most frail citizens," he said.
Doesn't matter ... on Feb. 22 the bill passed the Senate Appropriations Committee 8-5 and is on its way to the full Senate, Russell Pearce's Kingdom of Hate.
New Plan: Not Quite So Shitty
Given the Armageddon scenario that faces the state if SB 1519 makes it to Brewer's desk (and she hasn't exactly shown a spine in vetoing hateful legislation), healthcare providers, many of whom spoke against the bill last month, outlined their own compromise plan to the Governor yesterday.
The proposal would include new taxes on hospital, health-plan and nursing-home revenues and would eliminate 180,000 fewer people from the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System, the state's Medicaid program, than what an earlier proposal by the governor would cut. Arizona Republic
So, there you have it: Pearce, Kavanagh, and their mean-spirited ilk would cut care for more than a million people; Brewer's slightly less cruel scheme removes about 280,000 people; and the hospital group's plan would only boot 100,000 people off the list, while saving more healthcare jobs and keeping most hospitals open. Heh ... nobody suggested forgoing the $538 million corporate tax cut and covering even more Arizonans. Not surprisingly, the tax cut is about the same amount Brewer wants to take from Medicaid.
As the Arizona Republic article says, the compromise faces two hurdles: One is the voter-approved law directing Arizona to cover all citizens below poverty level. Damn, those pesky voters! The other is that it will require legislative approval, and with hate-mongers like Russell Pearce, John Kavanagh, and Andy Biggs driving the state into their stinking cesspool, approval is not likely.
We've had bigots and synapse-challenged elected officials before -- witness Evan Mecham. But these ratfuckers are just vicious, no two ways about it.