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You are here: Home / It’s Only People’s Health They are Playing With

It’s Only People’s Health They are Playing With

by John Cole|  June 9, 20143:04 pm| 54 Comments

This post is in: Sociopaths

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Well played, Republicans:

On a hazy, hot evening here, Janice Marks ate a dinner of turkey and stuffing at a homeless shelter filled with plastic cots before crossing a few blocks to the Arkansas side of town to start her night shift restocking the dairy cases at Walmart.

The next day, David Tramel and Janice McFall had a free meal of hot dogs and doughnut holes at a Salvation Army center in Arkansas before heading back to their tent, hidden in a field by the highway in Texas.

None of the three have health insurance. But had Ms. Marks, 26, chosen to sleep on the side of town where she works, or had Mr. Tramel and Ms. McFall, who are both in their early 20s, made their camp where they had eaten their dinner, their fortunes might be different.

Arkansas accepted the Medicaid expansion in the Affordable Care Act. Texas did not.

That makes Texarkana perhaps the starkest example of how President Obama’s health care law is altering the economic geography of the country. The poor living in the Arkansas half of town won access to a government benefit worth thousands of dollars annually, yet nothing changed for those on the Texas side of the state line.

This is why Phil Puckett resigned his Senate seat. To make Virginia a bit more like Texas. Asshole.

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Reader Interactions

54Comments

  1. 1.

    kindness

    June 9, 2014 at 3:13 pm

    Upon hearing about Phil’s actions my first thoughts were not encouraging regarding Phil and his daughter. Now I’ve reconsidered my jump to inappropriate thinking, but I do have faith in karma. Good things are not going to come of this Phil. You really should have thought a little harder about this decision.

  2. 2.

    Spirula

    June 9, 2014 at 3:19 pm

    I’m curious. If those three individuals move from the TX to the AR side, how soon would they become eligible for Medicaid and what documentation is required?

  3. 3.

    Fester Addams

    June 9, 2014 at 3:20 pm

    Phil Puckett: breathtakingly rotten, Blagovich-grade perfidy.

  4. 4.

    Roger Moore

    June 9, 2014 at 3:21 pm

    They’re only poor people, so it’s not as though anyone who matters is getting hurt. If you’re not part of the 1%, you don’t deserve nice stuff like health care.

  5. 5.

    MomSense

    June 9, 2014 at 3:22 pm

    @Fester Addams:

    It’s even worse because people will die without access to medical care.

  6. 6.

    Hunter Gathers

    June 9, 2014 at 3:28 pm

    @Fester Addams: Blago would have bribed the son-of-a-bitch in order to pass the Medicaid expansion. He was dirty as fuck, but getting All Kids through the legislature got him re-elected. And the entire state knew he was dirty, but we didn’t give a fuck because he actually gave a shit about kids without healthcare.

  7. 7.

    Ash Can

    June 9, 2014 at 3:29 pm

    On the subject of right-wing murderers, alert commenter Gus at LGF has compiled a compendium of online evidence linking one of the Las Vegas cop killers to various right-wing groups and causes, including video of him being interviewed at Cliven Bundy’s ranch.

  8. 8.

    Ash Can

    June 9, 2014 at 3:31 pm

    @Hunter Gathers: Yep. He was filthy to the core and deserved to be sent up the river, but he was no murderer.

  9. 9.

    The Snarxist Formerly Known as Kryptik

    June 9, 2014 at 3:32 pm

    @kindness:

    I dunno about the supposed deputy director seat Puckett negotiated, but reading the deal with his daughter, it sounded almost more like blackmail and extortion than bribery at a point.

    “Nice bench seat yer daughter’s got dere. Be a shame if anythin’ were to happen to it.”

  10. 10.

    c u n d gulag

    June 9, 2014 at 3:41 pm

    Yes, but look at Pill Phuckit’s deal!

    He probably doesn’t need to ever worry about a job for the rest of his life, and neither does his daughter.

    And only at the expense of 400,000+ people’s health and lives!

  11. 11.

    catclub

    June 9, 2014 at 3:42 pm

    @Hunter Gathers:

    And the entire state knew he was dirty, but we didn’t give a fuck because he actually gave a shit about kids without healthcare.

    Sounds like LBJ (Which I consider praiseworthy), swapping Vietnam quagmire for dirty. LBJ was also dirty, whatever.

  12. 12.

    BGinCHI

    June 9, 2014 at 3:52 pm

    When is the GOP base, who are getting screwed the hardest by this lack of healthcare, going to wake up and smell the corruption?

    Hmm. Probably never.

  13. 13.

    catclub

    June 9, 2014 at 3:52 pm

    @c u n d gulag: The cornhusker kickback ended up being excised from the ACA after it was uncovered. I predict he and/or his daughter will lose their jobs won in this deal, within 2 years. Too many people know about it.

  14. 14.

    Morzer

    June 9, 2014 at 3:55 pm

    I guess ol’ Phil decided to Puckett up and deal. I wonder how his daughter feels, knowing she’s going to be remembered as the judge who got her slot only through daddy’s corruption?

  15. 15.

    catclub

    June 9, 2014 at 3:55 pm

    @BGinCHI:

    When is the GOP base, who are getting screwed the hardest by this lack of healthcare,

    No the democrats base in the bottom quintile is being screwed the hardest. For example, blacks in Mississippi are strong democratic voters. THEY lose most from no Medicaid expansion. I do agree that the next group that loses is much of the GOP base, but poor white folks in Mississippi are less likely than rich white folks to vote GOP ( not much, but some).

  16. 16.

    BGinCHI

    June 9, 2014 at 3:59 pm

    @catclub: Yeah, you are right. It will just never cease to amaze me though that these fuckers keep voting against their own health. It’s really kids who are hurt most by this, as they have needs but no voice in the matter.

    Depressing.

  17. 17.

    jonas

    June 9, 2014 at 4:01 pm

    @BGinCHI:

    It’s really kids who are hurt most by this,

    They can pray to Jesus if they want that infection to clear up.

  18. 18.

    Morzer

    June 9, 2014 at 4:04 pm

    @jonas:

    I am afraid the GOP healthcare plan is quite clear on that point – see the Suffer The Children clause on page 13. Also, Jesus takes no responsibility for people who try and loot and mooch their way to free healthcare via prayer rather than paying their premiums – see the Render Unto Kaiser That Which Is Kaiser’s section on page 26.

  19. 19.

    BGinCHI

    June 9, 2014 at 4:05 pm

    @jonas: Also if they want to go to college.

  20. 20.

    CONGRATULATIONS!

    June 9, 2014 at 4:10 pm

    Yes, but look at Pill Phuckit’s deal!

    He probably doesn’t need to ever worry about a job for the rest of his life, and neither does his daughter.

    And only at the expense of 400,000+ people’s health and lives!

    @c u n d gulag: There are two people you never trust after the first time: snitches and turncoats. I predict they’ll both be unemployed by the end of 2015 if not sooner. Him and his rotten daughter can obviously be bought…but can they STAY bought? Not a risk I’d be willing to take.

  21. 21.

    c u n d gulag

    June 9, 2014 at 4:13 pm

    @CONGRATULATIONS!:
    Nice point! :-)

  22. 22.

    Long Tooth

    June 9, 2014 at 4:13 pm

    Twenty-five years ago, I flew across the country to Virginia to tour Civil War battlefields. It was about this time of year, and I can still picture the beauty of the countryside. Harpers Ferry ranks high among the most beautiful spots I’ve ever seen.

    But the further south I got, the weirder was the vibe from the people. At one point I got lost in the Wilderness, and pulled into a cracker-barrel store (near Todd’s Tavern) to ask directions. The rude,fuck-faced yokels I dealt with could have been cast as the hillbilly’s in Deliverance (and they were about as helpful, too).

    There is something deeply wrong with the Southern people. I know I won’t live long enough to ever see them ever change. Those people take far too much pride in their own ignorance.

  23. 23.

    srv

    June 9, 2014 at 4:16 pm

    Today’s Republican Party; in your womb and digging your grave at the same time.

  24. 24.

    Botsplainer

    June 9, 2014 at 4:18 pm

    Jerad Miller’s Facebook:

    https://www.facebook.com/jerad.miller.1

    Amanda Miller’s Facebook:

    https://www.facebook.com/amanda.woodruff.9

  25. 25.

    raven

    June 9, 2014 at 4:19 pm

    @Long Tooth: That’s the stupidest fucking post of the day, way to go.

  26. 26.

    Yatsuno

    June 9, 2014 at 4:21 pm

    @Long Tooth: Stop making me think you’re BoB. He at least tried to be clever.

  27. 27.

    Morzer

    June 9, 2014 at 4:23 pm

    @Botsplainer:

    Big fans of Papa and Baby Doc, as well as nailed-on racists. What an unexpected combination!

  28. 28.

    BGinCHI

    June 9, 2014 at 4:23 pm

    @raven:
    @Yatsuno:

    Generalizing, how does it work?

  29. 29.

    Gindy51

    June 9, 2014 at 4:24 pm

    @MomSense: A feature, not a bug

  30. 30.

    Emily68

    June 9, 2014 at 4:30 pm

    How is Puckett resigning going to get his daughter appointed as a judge? Who appoints her to the judgeship?

  31. 31.

    Kay

    June 9, 2014 at 4:30 pm

    Texas wins the prize for denying health care because they’re going in the wrong direction.

    They’re still cutting health care. They had the worst access in the country, so they really had to try to get worse. This is what happened after they went on that lunatic crusade against Planned Parenthood:

    The cuts have created a public health disaster, especially for the state’s Latina community, which is plagued by high rates of cervical cancer and other reproductive health problems. “We are witnessing the dismantling of a safety net that took decades to build and could not easily be recreated even if funding were restored soon,” wrote a doctor and three academics in a New England Journal of Medicine article in 2012.

  32. 32.

    Botsplainer

    June 9, 2014 at 4:33 pm

    @Morzer:

    Big fans of Papa and Baby Doc, as well as nailed-on racists.

    But dronez, and no aid to banks, weed to states and no war. Freedom and progressivism, man.

  33. 33.

    Botsplainer

    June 9, 2014 at 4:33 pm

    @Morzer:

    Big fans of Papa and Baby Doc, as well as nailed-on racists.

    But dronez, and no aid to banks, weed to states and no war. Freedom and progressivism, man.

  34. 34.

    piratedan

    June 9, 2014 at 4:37 pm

    @Emily68: because her dad has a legislative seat, there’s a “conflict of interest”. Hence, if he steps down, no conflict and she gets her judicial step up. Nevermind that is plays into the hands of the state GOP to tilt the balance of power in the statehouse when it comes to pushing thru any Democratic agenda now, because until there’s a new election (and Puckett held a seat in a red leaning district) no blue agenda items are now likely to be passed. The guy put aiding his daughter’s career over the needs of the entire state and his party.

  35. 35.

    BGinCHI

    June 9, 2014 at 4:38 pm

    @Botsplainer: Saw a dude in the parking lot last week who got into a car pasted with Ron Paul Is My President and several other Glib bumper stickers.

    Next day it was there and I left him a note: Stay Off Our Roads, Freeloader.

    I thought I was pretty restrained.

  36. 36.

    BGinCHI

    June 9, 2014 at 4:39 pm

    @piratedan: The consequences are going to be much worse than the short-term gain for the GOP. Though probably the VA Dem party needs a kick in the ass. I know the IL Dems do.

  37. 37.

    Belafon

    June 9, 2014 at 4:40 pm

    @BGinCHI: If I had an upding to give.

  38. 38.

    The Snarxist Formerly Known as Kryptik

    June 9, 2014 at 4:40 pm

    @Emily68:
    @piratedan:

    Mind, her daughter is already in the seat on a provisional basis due to being something of a recess appointment. Her appointment was approved by the House, but the Senate declined, for the ‘conflict of interest’ part piratedan already mentioned. What it seems to be is that the Senate is basically threatening her ouster. Mind, I don’t know if the conflict of interest part is part of the actual State Senate rules or just an unwritten convention.

  39. 39.

    Belafon

    June 9, 2014 at 4:42 pm

    @BGinCHI: The VA Dems won some major offices in an off-election year, so maybe they’ll see some more gains next year.

  40. 40.

    drkrick

    June 9, 2014 at 4:47 pm

    @Belafon: The statewide offices the Dems won last year aren’t vulnerable to gerrymandering. The legislative districts that are in play next year, not so much. But we can always hope.

  41. 41.

    Patrick

    June 9, 2014 at 4:48 pm

    @piratedan:

    I don’t understand how selfish people like that live with themselves. How can you possibly look your self in the mirror after that?

  42. 42.

    Long Tooth

    June 9, 2014 at 4:49 pm

    @raven: I’m wrong? About what? How politically fucked up the states of the old confederacy are today? Is that it?

    White southerners continue to elect vicious white birdbrains to maintain their perverted status quo, and that’s a simple fact.

  43. 43.

    BGinCHI

    June 9, 2014 at 4:53 pm

    @Patrick: What?

    All they do is look at themselves in the mirror. Rhymes with Schmarcissism.

  44. 44.

    raven

    June 9, 2014 at 5:01 pm

    @Long Tooth: “here is something deeply wrong with the Southern people”

    You wrote it I didn’t. Say what the fuck you mean.

  45. 45.

    catclub

    June 9, 2014 at 5:01 pm

    @Long Tooth:

    White southerners continue to elect vicious white birdbrains to maintain their perverted status quo, and that’s a simple fact.

    How did Rob Ford get in the discussion?

  46. 46.

    Long Tooth

    June 9, 2014 at 5:08 pm

    @catclub: If that’s the way it’s going to be, let me brag a little on my home state: ladies and gentlemen, Richard Nixon & Ronald Reagan!

    But the topic is southerners, and I stand by my remarks.

  47. 47.

    BGinCHI

    June 9, 2014 at 5:11 pm

    @Long Tooth: Put the shovel down.

  48. 48.

    raven

    June 9, 2014 at 5:11 pm

    @Long Tooth: And I stand by mine, you are a jackass.

  49. 49.

    Long Tooth

    June 9, 2014 at 5:21 pm

    @raven: No. You just can’t handle an honest opinion by me (and I’m no lumberjack but I’m OK), one freely offered up, but one that also contradicts your own.

  50. 50.

    Hal

    June 9, 2014 at 5:41 pm

    Obamacare may come to demonstrate the stark differences between liberal vs conservative policies. Let America see what true freedom from the tea party perspective really me for people’s livelihoods.

  51. 51.

    Emily68

    June 9, 2014 at 5:55 pm

    @piratedan: @The Snarxist Formerly Known as Kryptik: Thank you both.

  52. 52.

    CONGRATULATIONS!

    June 9, 2014 at 5:58 pm

    Obamacare may come to demonstrate the stark differences between liberal vs conservative policies. Let America see what true freedom from the tea party perspective really me for people’s livelihoods.

    @Hal: You could also go with:

    Public education
    Freeing slaves
    Social Security
    Medicare
    Medicaid

    but the conservatives take credit for all of those save for “public education”, which both Republicans and Democrats want to torpedo with equal fervor.

    Don’t think “Obamacare” is going to cut the mustard as far as being a revolutionary game changer in political thought.
    CHIP

  53. 53.

    JPL

    June 9, 2014 at 5:59 pm

    @Long Tooth: The problem is that your statement lumps everyone in the same pot. There are places in north Georgia that I’m not comfortable in. In fact there is a bbq place near where I live north of Atlanta that I won’t spend my money in. Those places don’t define the entire area.

  54. 54.

    Long Tooth

    June 9, 2014 at 6:21 pm

    @JPL: I did not parse, that is true. Again, however, I stand by my remarks.

    I also submit that my nixon&reagan reference refute any suggestion I unfairly discriminate in my censure of the south and the people.

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