Ralph Hudgens
Only a Republican would be so happy about being in a position to deny thousands of people health insurance. But that's what one insurance commissioner is, absolutely
giddy about it.
“Let me tell you what we’re doing (about ObamaCare),” Georgia Insurance Commissioner Ralph Hudgens bragged to a crowd of fellow Republicans in Floyd County earlier this month: “Everything in our power to be an obstructionist.”
After pausing to let applause roll over him, a grinning Hudgens went on to give an example of that obstructionist behavior, this one involving so-called “navigators” who are being hired to guide customers through the process of buying health insurance on marketplaces, or exchanges, set up under the federal program.
“We have passed a law that says that a navigator, which is a position in that exchange, has to be licensed by our Department of Insurance,” Hudgens said. “The ObamaCare law says that we cannot require them to be an insurance agent, so we said fine, we’ll just require them to be a licensed navigator. So we’re going to make up the test, and basically you take the insurance agent test, you erase the name, you write ‘navigator test’ on it.”
It's not just Hudgens. Since the administration
made grants available to states to fund these navigators, the people who will help the uninsured figure out the new system, the efforts of a number of states—Ohio, Missouri, Florida to name a few—to interfere in this process
have made news.
It's now on the radar for House Republicans, too, who are "investigating" the program, or more to the point harassing and intimidating the organizations, mostly non-profits, which are hiring and training the navigators. The House Energy and Commerce Committee sent out a four-page letter to the organizations demanding information by September 13, and generally trying to gum up the works as these groups try to ramp up their efforts.
Because for gawd sakes, we all know that the world will come to an end if more people can get affordable health insurance. It'll be armageddon when the working poor can actually afford to see a doctor. Or get a free fucking flu shot.
