On Last Week Tonight, John Oliver reminds us that the presidential election is the entire lifespan of a hamster away; but upcoming state elections could make all the difference for $3.1 million people who have fallen into the Medicaid gap and who need healthcare now. State elections will also provide protection for wild animals, including the pangolin – who is not a stringed instrument, but a peaceful, toothless mammal who resembles nothing so much as an artichoke crossed with a stegosaurus. It really makes you wonder, doesn’t it?
We have truculent governors to blame in states where they like to claim that Obamacare falls short, like Texas, Mississippi and Virginia. In truth, the states where Medicaid expansion was shot down, are the states in which the chasm between subsidized healthcare and Medicaid is as wide as the Grand Canyon and just as insurmountable for the millions of Americans who don’t fit into either category. The Texas woman who is faced with laying out $8 thousand dollars for a colonoscopy is but one example. Meanwhile in places like Canada, the procedure is free – but politicians are determined to ‘save’ us from that kind of ‘socialized train-wreck.’
Take Matt Bevin (please). Bevin is an excellent example of why it’s important to show up for state elections. Even in states where Obamacare is working, like Kentucky, Bevin wants to roll Medicaid back – while denying the fact. I guarantee you’ll be amazed to learn how easily Bevin can flip from his stance against all government aid (to other people), to collecting $100 thousand dollars from the state of Kentucky to cover his own idiocy. He is a special snowflake, and deserving of all he receives. Let him melt…Out of office.