Trump's Texas Medicaid scam

In the midst of all the chaos swirling around Trump's final days in office, a few Trump-style scams got overlooked. Biden just tracked down and canceled a particularly egregious one:

Texas is one of a dozen states that has rejected the Obamacare Medicaid/Medicare expansion. That measure increases available eligibility and funding for low-income residents to access health care. It costs the states virtually nothing to participate, and in 38 states, has reduced the number of uninsured by as much as 60%. However, citing ideological purity and "not takin' nothin' that Obama feller done cooked up," twelve deep-red governors have rejected the expansion, thoroughly screwing over their citizens in the name of Republican ideology.

The pandemic has made that decision kind of embarrassing for the RepubliQs. So during the waning days of the Trump hell, loyal Trump stooge and Texas governor Abbott requested a $110+ billion gift from Trump---called an 1115 waiver. That was free Medicaid money, no strings attached. However, it's supposed to go through a lengthy review process. Trump, with the clock running out on his presidency, signed an executive order waiving that process. Thus, Abbott was able to grab $110 billion without violating RepubliQ ideological purity by accepting the Obamacare Medicaid expansion. A nice end-around! "We don't want that dirty Obama money, because we is Repubblekins and we have FREEDUMB! (Just slide the check underneath the door.)"

Polls show that 69% of Texans want their state to accept the Obamacare Medicaid expansion. Texas has one of the highest rates of uninsured in the country--about 20%. So the people of Texas, RepubliQ purity aside, want this improvement to their health care. Biden's latest move is an attempt to force Abbott's hand. Abbott's whining about it and complaining that Biden is taking away health care from Texans. Of course, Abbott's continuing refusal to sign on to the Medicaid expansion is what created the problem in the first place. It's grossly hypocritical of Abbott to blame Biden for his own refusal to give Texans access to health care.

Thank God I don't live in Texas. What a bunch of stinking yee-haw hypocrites!

An inconvenient truth?

https://www.investors.com/politics/editorials/states-discover-the-high-cost-of-obamacares-free-medicaid-expansion/

It remains a simple truth that when a state joins/has joined the Medicaid expansion, more people have medical insurance than before. Since 20% of Texans are uninsured, that would seem to be a good reason for the state to join. And yes, it would cost money.

So the question is whether the state's ruling clique (the RepubliQs) considers it worth the expense to ensure that more of its citizens have access to medical care. However, in Texas and the other dead-red states that have rejected the Medicaid expansion, it's being touted as a matter of ideological purity. To accept that no-good Obama's health care package would be seen as a betrayal. People who live outside the Cornpone-Cowboy-Yahoo Belt might not understand the white-hot hatred for Obama that still lingers in that godforsaken part of the country.