Confession: If I could have reached through the monitor and slapped Rand Paul, I would have. Since I couldn't do it in real life, I'm going to do it virtually.
All day long, Fox News has been slamming the enrollment numbers announced by the Obama administration. Rand Paul's appearance was just icing on the ignorance cake.
Highlights:
- The false claim that the 7.1 million enrollees include 80 percent either receiving subsidies or getting their health care "free" via Medicaid. Of course, people paying attention know the 7.1 million number does not include Medicaid recipients. I've already ranted about the "moocher" claim, so I won't do too much of it again, except to ask whether or not Senator Paul views medical bankruptcies due to health care costs as mooching, too.
- The ignorant and false claim that increased numbers of beneficiaries on Medicaid will bankrupt hospitals. In fact, the opposite is true.
- The bizarre and random descent into speculation about how giving people access to affordable health care will cause currency devaluation and inflation.
- Concern trolling over the fates of poor people who will stay poor because they have health care which will destroy the value of the dollar.
- The false assertion that the "bill will come due." Unlike Republicans, Democrats built "pay-fors" into the ACA along with provisions to push health care costs down. We waited four years past the law's passage to accumulate the funds to pay for the subsidies and Medicaid costs.
This confirms everything we know about Senator Paul's TeaBircher ways: He truly does believe that poor people should die, because then there would be more for everyone else.
If Senator Paul is so aggravated about federal subsidies and Medicaid recipients, perhaps he should embrace an increase to the minimum wage. That would lift all boats, decrease the number of people earning below the poverty line, and enable people to climb out of poverty while staying healthy at the same time. Of course, that would also mean less Billionaire Bucks in the pockets of Mr. Paul's owners.
Also, an aside to Fox News: Displaying March 1st statistics on young people's enrollments is intentionally misleading. We know you don't really give a damn about facts, nor do your viewers, but that was laughable.
