"I’m skeptical of government-run programs,” said Louis Stans, a retired engineer who was part of the AFP (American's for Prosperity) group. Medicare, Stans said, was “better” and he had “paid into it my whole life."
Mr. Stans was one of a group of about a hundred Koch-sponsored people who descended on the Capitol to kill "Insure Tennessee," Republican Governor Haslam's conservative version of Medicaid expansion.
(Quoted by Steve Benen.)
Kind of makes you nostalgic (actually not) for the summer of 2009. when we had the spectacle of people shouting down Congresspersons with the perverse and insanely stupid cry, "Keep your government hands off my Medicare."
"Insure Tennessee" would provide medical care to 280,000 people, improve the state's budget and strengthen hospitals in the state, with zero state funding required. To no avail, Governor Haslam tried to convince people that "Insure Tennessee" was not the dreaded Obamacare, because only 16% of state residents opposed “Insure Tennessee,” but 85% oppose “Obamacare.”
Yet another triumph for Idiocracy: Avarice, coupled with ignorance and cruelty -- the Koch's winning combination.