Goodbye, And I Don’t Recall Saying Good Luck

Also applicable at the state level!

Sam Brownback has a lovely parting gift for the citizens of Kansas. Namely, needless death and suffering so he can keep upper-class tax cuts that have massively failed to deliver the promised economic growth:

The train wreck involving the American Health Care Act in the U.S. House last week offered a burst of fresh hope to those in the 19 states that have not yet accepted the Medicaid expansion authorized by the Affordable Care Act and made optional by the U.S. Supreme Court. Most versions of GOP health legislation have canceled the expansion and its generous federal funding with variations in terms of speed and ferocity. The version of AHCA that slipped and fell while approaching the House floor contained a flat prohibition on any new expansions, reportedly at the behest of the House Freedom Caucus.

Coincidentally or not, early this week a coalition of Democrats and moderate Republicans in the Kansas legislature sent conservative governor Sam Brownback a bill designed to make that state the 32nd to expand Medicaid eligibility to poor people without children or disabilities. There were rumors other states might follow. But alas for any sense of momentum for Medicaid expansions, Brownback promptly vetoed the legislation, with a message that should remind everyone that rejection of the expansion has often been about ideology rather than money…

In the long-term, some additional states are likely to opt in to Medicaid. But the hardest core Republican states could hold out for a long time. I’m sure the poor Kansans who will go without insurance are grateful to John Roberts for enforcing the equal sovereign dignitude of the states (see U.S. Cont., Art. XII.)