World News Korner

Sarah Palin's poodle, Governor Sean Parnell, has just made his mistress proud yet again.

Courtesy of Alaska Dispatch:

Alaska Gov. Sean Parnell on Thursday refused to expand Medicaid in Alaska under the federal health care law, a move that comes in opposition to leading business organizations that supported the expansion and studies showing substantial economic benefits of providing Medicaid for some 40,000 uninsured Alaskans.

The move puts Alaska alongside some 20 other states that refused to expand Medicaid eligibility, as Republican governors try to thwart Obama and a law they say will financially burden their states while expanding one of the country's largest entitlement programs.

Before the press conference began, state employees handed out copies of a previously secret state-commissioned report by the Lewin Group about expanding Medicaid. The report had been the target of public records requests from Alaska Dispatch and other media outlets, but it was kept under wraps during deliberations by Parnell administration officials.

Supporters of Medicaid expansion, including the Anchorage and state chambers of commerce, said an expansion would boost the economy because the federal government has said it would foot no less than 90 percent of the bill. Both chambers suggested the state re-evaluate its position if federal funding ever falls below 90 percent.

But Parnell said he fears the state will one day be left paying for much of the expansion. He said he could not commit the state to expanding the debacle that has been Obamacare -- with its oft-changing requirements and fumbled roll-out. The federal funds that would come with the expansion are enticing, he said, but the increased federal debt will come with huge costs for future generations that he could not accept. He called for the creation of a task force and further study so Alaska can assess the gaps in its health care system to ensure that the very poor have the access they need.

If Parnell had expanded eligibility, it would have covered tens of thousands of Alaskans who fell through the cracks of the health care law that initially required states, with significant federal funding, to expand Medicaid so that those earning up to 138 percent of the poverty level are included. However, the Supreme Court in 2012 ruled that states could opt out of the expansion.

Uninsured Alaskans making less than $19,803 or $40,627 for a family four would have been eligible. That includes single people and married people without children who weren't previously covered.

Fuck Parnell!

He does not care one little bit about what the expansion may cost someday, or the Alaskans it would cover today.

He only cares about pleasing his corporate masters. and making the woman who handed him his job on a silver platter happy.

Source