If you are in the Sooner State, pay attention the campaign to get Medicaid Expansion on the ballot:
#BREAKING: The #Medicaidexpansion campaign in Oklahoma, @YesOn802, says it has hit its signature gathering goal. They need to get at least 178,000 certified by the Sec. of State to get it on the 2020 ballot, and they're due Oct 28!
— Caroline Halter (@CarolineHalter) October 11, 2019
Right now, it looks like it should be General Election ballot. If I was an organizer, I would look to pad the signature tally for two reasons. First, some signatures will be rejected as least one person will have signed “Mickey Mouse”. Secondly, this is a great source of early mobilization and get out the vote information. People who are willing to sign a petition to get an issue on the ballot ar eprobably fairly persuadable to vote for that measure.
Oklahoma, at the state level, has had some different ideas on how to expand Medicaid. One of the more unusual ideas was a county level expansion where the state share of 10% of costs would be borne by county taxes. This expansion effort would be state wide if there is a working and voting majority. I do not understand Oklahoma law well enough to know if the legislature could override a referandum and either slow-walk it like Nebraska or dramatically rework it like Idaho and Utha have done with their voter approved Medicaid expansions.
But if you are a Sooner, look for the signature gatherers.
SFAW
I know absolutely nothing about OK politics, but after seeing what the Party of Traitors is doing to reverse the will of the people in Florida re: re-enfranchising ex-felons, I wonder whether a ballot initiative anywhere with a Rethug lege can succeed. [Well, unless that ballot initiative is designed to hurt poor/brown/female/LGBT citizens, of course; then it would be “full steam ahead.”]
rikyrah
I have said it before.
The Democrats should have made it a focus to get Medicaid expansion on the ballot of every state that had not expanded yet. I think ballot measures like this bring out OUR voters.
OzarkHillbilly
I wonder if this might be one year where it is better off on the primary ballot, especially if OK is one of the states that have canceled the Republican primary. Even if it isn’t, trump is still guaranteed (assuming Pence hasn’t taken over) to be the GOP nominee, and I suspect most of the OK Reps are running unopposed.
The DEM primary could be a driver of GOTV.
p.a.
Qualification rules: equal or better Michael Phelps’ 2008 Olympic freestyle winning time.
SFAW
@p.a.:
So you’re saying that only Trump can qualify? [At least, according to what he “guarantees.”]
Ohio Mom
A FYI for David: yesterday over at the Lawyers, Guns and Money blog, there was a post on the Israeli medical system, “My adventures in socialized medicine” by Abigail Nussbaum. I think you will eat it up.
The post describes how the medical system evolved, starting before the state of Israel was founded, and the incredible kludge it is now, keeping some of the original structure, and combining single payer with free market and privatized care. I could hardly follow it, but you (David) will.
Next, Nussbaum describes her odyssey (spoiler: she’s fine, it wasn’t cancer), and you can see how a patient experiences the system.
What struck me personally was that Nussbaum was handed over to doctor to doctor by the doctors; My personal experience is that I have to orchestrate all that myself.
For one example, I went to the Rheumatologist the other day and she suggested I might want to go to a podiatrist. But she won’t do the referral, I have to go to my PCP for that. So it is up to me to decide if my foot is bad enough to require more care? As I often remark, I was an art major.
T
David, could you opine please on the relentless advertising on Northern Virginia tellyvision regarding surprise billing: last week it was every other damn minute trying to make surprise billing sound like birthday cake. This week there’s a better solution apparently that takes the patient out of the middle of the dispute and is bipartisan and sounds a lot like binding arbitration. My alarm bells are ringing.
David Anderson
@T: Private equity firms trying to pound Congress into submission to not pass meaningful surprise billing legislation that will reduce the hookers and blow available through shitty contract law.
TomatoQueen
@David Anderson: Private equity = unlimited cash, explains the bombardment of tv ads, which also too are lavish and deliberately vague. Thank you.
Joey Maloney
Just my little experience with the Israeli care system: if you want to get the best coordination of services from the highest quality doctors, it is essential to be on good terms with the receptionist at your neighborhood clinic (where you go to see your GP). She (it’s almost always she) knows which doctors speak your language, which ones are kind of assholes, and which ones should’ve retired 20 years ago. She’s the one who will help you get appointments, help you find the best in-network specialists in your area, and help you jump the queue in cases where it’s warranted.
That says something about the ad-hoc nature of the system, but it works pretty well. Especially considering it’s constantly absorbing new immigrants who don’t know how to navigate the system and don’t even have a good grasp of the language.
Ohio Mom
@Joey Maloney: I think that is most things in Israel, who you know and how you use those relationships can be everything. I mean, that is true everywhere but it seems to me to especially true in Israel.