Is the Republican Future Haunted by Their Efforts to Destroy Obamacare? The View from La Farine LXX (january 8, 2014)
As best as I can figure out, states that go all-in in their opposition to ObamaCare will lose 3% of their state-level GDP relative to baseline from Medicaid dollars not spent and exchange subsidies not claimed in the short run, and 6% in the long run as those who make the things medical professionals buy move to where the money is...
*Prairie Weather: * Republican efforts to destroy Obamacare may come back haunt them:
I'm beginning to wonder whether the future health of American politics may turn out to owe something to Obamacare. Texas is a ridiculously red state... that has been churning out an embarrassing group of knuckledraggers who find their way to... Congress.... The effort to destroy Obamacare is as alive in Texas these days as in Washington.... Rick Perry's idea of reggle-atin' includes making the navigators pay a hefty fee for their role assisting in the implementation of the Affordable Care Act... "40 hours of training... liability insurance... fees for fingerprints, tests and classes".... To become a navigator in Texas, you'll need to ante up $800.
In public comments submitted to the state, state Rep. Lon Burnam, D-Fort Worth, said he had obtained documents from the Texas Department of Insurance indicating that the department chose a 40-hour requirement because of political influence. The department has said the documents are confidential under attorney-client privilege, said Burnam’s staff, and wouldn’t allow him to release them to the public....
Wendy Davis, the increasingly popular Democrat who will run against the Republicans' chosen successor to Governor Rick Perry, is bound to profit from this attempt to kill Obamacare. But it's a lousy deal for Texans who have yet to sign up for health care and a rude, Republican smack on the kisser for anyone who tries to help them...
