Ideology trumps intelligence in Florida

This week, a Florida Senate committee rejected the expansion of Medicaid to its poorest residents, a vote that followed a similar vote in the House and a surprise endorsement by its tea partying governor. Not only that, the bill’s Republican sponsor declared that he wants Florida out of the Medicaid business altogether.

Click through for details.

Honesty comes out in the funniest ways sometimes

Paul Ryan explains the goal of the GOP’s new rehashed plan to cure the nation’s fiscal woes earlier today:

“This to us is something that we’re not going to give up on, because we’re not going to give up on destroying the health care system for the American people.”

It’s not that this comes as a surprise or anything, we just never thought you’d be so brazen about it, Mr. Ryan.

To quote a former candidate for president: “Oops”.

Video after the jump.

Wait. What???

With Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act poised to free nearly half a million Michiganders from having to get their healthcare from emergency rooms and save the state $10 million in the first ten years, our Governor, Rick Snyder, appears to be wavering because of ‘capacity’. This is despite a report that came out this month indicating that Michigan doctors are ready, willing and able to take on the influx of uninsured patients.

So, what, we should just let them keep going to emergency rooms for their healthcare? More after the jump.

How about it Republicans? Do you care for Michiganders or not?

With Republicans actively seeking to prevent the expansion of Medicaid in Michigan under the Affordable Care Act and Democrats seeking to make it happen, doctors in Michigan are ready, willing and able to take on the new influx of patients that would entail. Think about it: a savings of $1 billion over ten years, 400,000 new Michiganders covered by health insurance and doctors expanding their practices to accomodate.

Who could be against THAT? Only conservative ideologues, that’s who.

Details after the jump.

C’mon, Governor Snyder, do the right thing

As regular readers of this site know, we have been calling on Michigan Governor Rick Snyder to expand Medicaid coverage in our state, one of the many excellent provisions of the Affordable Care Act (ACA, aka “Obamacare”.) You can read LOLGOP’s pieces on this HERE and HERE and my piece HERE.

Now the Michigan Democrats are starting to move on this issue. Today, State Representative Andy Schor (D-Lansing) introduced a House Resolution today calling on Governor Snyder to expand Medicaid under the federal ACA.

As Rep. Schor notes in his press release, “under the ACA, the cost of expanding Medicaid to more residents would be covered 100 percent by the federal government from 2014 through 2016. After that, the federal government would cover no less than 90 percent of the cost.”

Much more after the jump.

The BFDness of Obamacare continues to roll out

Earlier this week, LOLGOP explained how a component of the Affordable Care Act, lovingly called “Obamacare” by those who understand that our President cares about Americans without health insurance, includes a huge expansion of Medicaid. He also explained how this is free to states for the first two years and they are on the hook for only 10% of the additional costs after that. He also explained how upwards of 670,000 more Michiganders will be covered by health insurance under this expansion of one of the most beloved and official government programs that we have.

Follow me after the jump for a couple of other things about it that make it even more attractive. And don’t forget to sign our petition!

Thirty-fourth time’s a charm?

Republicans have been trying to repeal the Affordable Care Act since it was passed. The last time was in July 2012. That was the 33rd attempt.

Today, Congresswoman Michele Bachmann introduced legislation to try it again for the 34th time.

More idiocracy after the fold.

Letting ideology trump protecting our most vulnerable citizens

Michigan’s Tea Party Republicans are doing everything in their power to block the formation of a state-run health insurance exchange. These state exchanges are mandated by the Affordable Care Act and, if they are not formed, the federal government will do it for them, taking away the state’s ability to control their own destiny. As I wrote last summer, this self-defeating behavior is harmful to Michigan’s most vulnerable citizens.

Details after the jump.

Leadership? Not so much…

As I reported last month, tea partiers in Michigan have been working diligently against their own self-interest, trying to prevent a state-run health insurance exchange from being formed in Michigan. The exchange, mandated by the Affordable Care Act, would help up to a half million Michiganders obtain affordable health insurance.

If the state doesn’t create one of their own, the federal government will do it for them. And that, apparently, is exactly what is going to happen in Michigan because Governor Rick Snyder has backed down from his push for the Michigan-run exchange.

More after the jump.

These guys are out of control

As is becoming increasingly clear to anyone paying attention to the 2012 presidential election, the Ryan/Romney campaign has given up all hope of winning on the issues and on their record and have resorted to unprecedented lying — literally making things up about President Obama and then putting it out as truth in stump speeches, online videos, television ads, appearances by surrogates on news programs and in fundraising emails.

There is a new one this week and it takes the LYING and HYPOCRISY to a new and rather incredible level.

The Ryan/Romney campaign is claiming that President Obama stripped $716 billion out of Medicare benefits “to pay for Obamacare”.

This is a lie.

Also, those same cuts, which I’ll describe in a moment, are in the Ryan budget plan that Mitt Romney has endorsed.

Details and more after the jump.

Let’s you and him fight…

Tea partiers in western Michigan are taking on a strange adversary this month. In a widely-blogged screed from the Tea Party of West Michigan (“Influence policy, effect [sic] elections, protect the Constitution”), Tina DuPont is outraged the Right to Life of Michigan is supposedly supporting the formation of a state-run health insurance exchange mandated by the Affordable Care Act.

Details after the jump.