Pennsylvania
Related: About this forumNew Corbett Radio Ad: Tom Wolf will kick your grandmother out of the hospital
http://www.politicspa.com/pa-gov-corbett-releases-radio-ad-audio/55528/Audio at the link.
Corbett has come out with a new radio ad. In it, he says Schwartz raises taxes, and Hanger wants to get everyone stoned. Then, he says McCord and Wolf support slashing billions from Medicare.
Of course, McCord and Wolf have only held state offices and had no role with Medicare, which is federally funded.
As best as anyone can guess about what is meant by this confusing ad, it is probably based upon the fact that McCord and Wolf support the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare). As part of the national negotiations for that law in 2010, the hospitals agreed to a reduction in future Medicare funding, in returning for the expectation that they would no longer have to provide charity care to millions of Americans, who now would be insured.
While Pennsylvania has little control over Medicare, PA. does have a great deal of control over Medical Assistance/Medicaid. Corbett has refused to allow the federal government to give the state billions of dollars a year to provide health insurance to the working poor.
The very poor already have the existing Medicaid program, but there are millions of working poor who cannot afford health insurance. These persons were never designed to be served by the Obamacare exchanges - the law intended that they would be served by lower cost Medicaid policies funded by the federal government.
Corbett has said he intends to ask for waivers from the feds, including making the working poor buy private health insurance, which is much more expensive than regular Medicaid. In effect, Corbett has issued a list of demands to the federal government. He has issued an ultimatum to the feds - you cannot pay for health care for our citizens, unless you do everything Corbett says. If Corbett's demands are not met, PA's poor people die.
Corbett has proposed asking for some Medicaid waivers that the federal government has never granted.
Then, Corbett waited a full year to actually getting around to requesting those waivers from the feds - which caused 350,000 Pennsylvanians to miss out on health insurance during all of 2014. Two studies have shown that accepting the federal money would create thousands of new health care jobs in Pennsylvania and improve the finances of many PA. hospitals that serve large numbers of low income persons.
For example, the Rand Corporation projects 35,000 new health care jobs in Pennsylvania would be created if Corbett would just agree to accept the billions of dollars from the feds.
http://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RR256.html
Many city hospitals have closed in Pa. in the last 10 years because of the burden of caring for low income persons without insurance.
If the federal money would be accepted, PA. could also divert a couple hundred million a year of state tax money from current health care expenses to help properly fund public schools.
JPZenger
(6,819 posts)So Corbett is upset that the increase in Medicare reimbursements was reduced. However, that reduction was only made because the law required every state to expand Medicaid, which would minimize problems with uncompensated care. However, the Repubs got their Repubs on the US Supreme Court to overrule that provision of Obamacare. Then, it was up to each state to decide whether they would permit the FEDS to pay to serve that state's citizens.
But Corbett has continually obstructed Medicaid expansion in PA, which was supposed to have taken effect 2 months ago for 350,000 Pennsylvanians. And now he has the gall to criticize the Medicare reduction. Well, if Tommy had not obstructed the Medicaid expansion, the hospitals would have plenty of revenue, regardless of the Medicare reduction.
our tax dollars were used again this week to pay for another surgery for Corbett. He has denied health care to the very taxpayers who are footing his bills.
Divernan
(15,480 posts)That's what popped into my mind when I read this story. It's been long established that Corbett is a Frack Ho - he just still continues to negotiate over price re further concessions. By "price" I refer to campaign contributions/bribes, and post-electoral-office perks like board memberships with stock options, speakers' fees, consultant fees, hired at partner level by law firms relying on Big Frackers, etc.
MH1
(17,537 posts)I call him Governor Corrupt because his corruption on the fracking issue is so transparent, it's beyond amazing that any self-respecting voter would vote for him. But unfortunately PA is full of voters who are not self-respecting, but Republicans. Sigh.
JPZenger
(6,819 posts)This is tied into a national TV advertising campaign - saying that Obamacare has cut reimbursement rates to hospitals and therefore it is bad.
The hospitals had to charge the people with insurance much more than the cost in order to cover the costs of the uninsured. If we achieve our goal of having 90% of Americans insured, there will be less need to charge one group of people seeking treatment for the costs to care for others. That is called personal responsibility, Mr. Republican.