Please remember, Pennsylvania Gov. Tom is very, very concerned about the little unborn babies. He just doesn't give a damn about their mothers!
Pennsylvania Republicans have decided against expanding Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, arguing that covering more low-income residents would cost the state too much money. But last week, Gov. Tom Corbett (R) went a step further, telling a local news station that poor residents who are already enrolled in the program, including pregnant women and breast cancer patients, are receiving too much free care and should pay into the system.
Oh, Tom. You just can't help yourself, can you? Your numbers are in the toilet and women hate your guts. This isn't going to help.
“What I hear all the time coming out of the administration in Washington is that it’s the working poor [who benefit from Medicaid],” Corbett told WTAE, a local ABC affiliate, on Saturday. “Yes it is working, but you should be investing five, ten dollars in co-pay to understand that you go to to the hospital or the doctors, you just can’t keep going and going and going and think everything is going to be covered. You have to know that you have some interest in what’s going on.”
Pennsylvania’s Department of Public Welfare website has a dedicated webpage to “Copayment Information for Medical Assistance Recipients,” which explains that while children, pregnant women, and breast cancer patients, among others, don’t pay the fees, many beneficiaries do contribute for the services they receive.
Corbett appears to suggest that the exempt enrollees are abusing the free services and that everyone should pay more for health care.
This is what I think of as "rich white man syndrome." He is so used to talking to people just like himself, it doesn't even occur to him that not everyone agrees with him. Thanks, Governor, for proving once again that you don't care about the state's most vulnerable.
Not to mention that he's just plain wrong. Studies show that co-pays don't make for efficient use of health care. They discourage people from going to the doctor's until they're really, really sick -- and more expensive to treat. I guess it would be asking too much to expect Corbett to actually think instead of spouting outdated right-wing talking points.
