S.C. Gov. Nikki Haley is reportedly “leery” of hearings into Obamacare being held next month by a prominent fiscally conservative State Senator.
Really? We wonder why …
“The governor has a political problem when it comes to the implementation of the Affordable Care Act at the state level,” a source at Haley’s Medicaid agency tells FITS. “She’s on the record opposing the Obamacare expansion, but the truth is we’ve been ramping up enrollment right nicely on our own.”
At last count, more than 130,000 new dependents were scheduled to be added to South Carolina’s Medicaid rolls in the current fiscal year – at a cost of several hundred million dollars to taxpayers. Haley’s administration has been aggressively pushing expanded enrollment to maximize the amount of federal dollars the state can receive from Washington, D.C. – even as she attacks her likely 2014 general election opponent Vincent Sheheen for supporting similar policies.
In years past going after the “federal match” was considered wise fiscal policy – but taxpayers have become increasingly skeptical of such deals.
“We pay federal taxes too,” one fiscally conservative lawmaker told FITS. “And this money comes with all sorts of strings attached.”
FITS has requested updated data on the state’s Medicaid expansion, and will publish that information as soon as we receive it.
In addition to Haley’s policy challenge, she is also reportedly unhappy with the politics of the panel.
Specifically, she is said to be angry at S.C. Senate President John Courson (RINO-Columbia) for selecting Tom Davis – one of the chamber’s most aggressive fiscal conservatives – to lead the panel.
“There is no love lost between those two,” a State House source with ties to Haley and Davis tells FITS.
In fact Haley reportedly blistered veteran political consultant Richard Quinn – who advises Courson – over the appointment.
“She accused him of building a stage for Tom Davis to run against her in a 2014 primary election,” our source says.
Davis reiterated to FITS earlier this month that he has no plans to run for any statewide office in 2014.
Next month’s hearings will be held in Charleston, Columbia and Greenville. Obviously we’ll let our readers know what they uncover.
15 comments
She’s a politician. She says one thing and does another.
Blowing………smoke; anything to get publicity — she doesn’t want to be forgotten!
She’ll be easily forgotten and left to wither in the dustbins of history
In this case its helping poor people get health insurance. Of course this is a horrible horrible thing.
Leave it to a teatard idiot to complain about 130,000 US citizens getting the health care they need and deserve. Just because a person is poor does not mean they should suffer with medical issues so political whores can score points.
If South Carolina had expanded Medicaid the Feds would be picking up 100% of the tab for all new recipients of Medicaid. The reason the teatard queen is “leery” is because her political stance, refusing medicaid expansion, is going to blow up in her idiotic fucking face.
South Carolina is projected to gain almost 250,000 new Medicaid recipients that they get to pay for all by their little lonesome. Why? Because the dumbfucklicans failed to take into account how many people eligible for Medicaid now and not collecting will discover they are eligible for Medicaid when they apply to the exchanges the Feds are setting up. Yes!! Almost a quarter million SC residents never knew they were eligible for coverage!! Now!! Without expansion!!
Talk about monumental republican FUCK UPS!! Now not only do hospitals lose federal dollars the state gets to pick up the tab!!
Mother Fucking political idiots are going to cost us taxpayers billions so they can show just how much of a RINO they aren’t!! Gotta love when teafucklicans shoot themselves in the foot!! All to oppose Obamacare.
FUCK YOU DUMBFUCKS!! Ha Ha Ha!!
It’s worth having to pay the extra taxes just to watch you idiots shoot yourselves in the foot with a ricochet to the balls!!
OBAMA FUCKS YOU AGAIN!!! LoL!
No, you see, the free market will solve everything. All we need to do is scale back any and every government program that helps single mothers, poor children, the elderly, the disabled and the mentally handicapped, and then if the free market picks up the slack, hurrah!
Wait, what do you mean “What if the free market doesn’t pick up the slack?” Err, well… The free market works in mysterious ways, my friend!
What’s so funny about the Pubs endgame of killing Medicaid/Medicare off completely is that we will evolve to a true socialist healthcare system with the poor and elderly showing up more to the emergency room and not paying their bills and that cost getting passed on to everyone else.
No. When it gets to the point that people are dying and their kids are going hungry the fuckholes that champion starving the poor will find their trip to the grocery store very exciting indeed.
As many residents of other third world “states” can tell you when the poor begin to starve the trip to the grocery store becomes very dangerous.
For some strange reason when children are starving due to others greed they tend to dish out civil justice much to the fat cats chagrin.
I would dare say you haven’t spent much time near the welfare/wic/gimme office. I recently had the displeasure of such and the “need” is very much a moving target and more of a scammers’ game of make believe.
Run this by me again.
You mean to tell me that Haley refused to implement the Medicaid expansion portion of PPACA for ideological reasons — even though the Federal government would pick up 100% of the cost of the expansion for the first three years, and not less than 90% until 2020 — yet South Carolina has signed up 130,000 additional Medicaid recipients in the current fiscal year at a cost of several hundred million dollars?
Now, maybe some of those 130,000 were added before they could have been covered under the PPACA Medicaid expansion that will not happen here in SC, but that begs the question as to how many more will be signed up from now on at what level of Federal matching funds?
Congressional Budget Office (CBO) analysis indicates that between 2014 and 2022, the PPACA’s Medicaid expansion will add just 2.8 percent to what states spend on Medicaid, while bring health care to those previously without. In addition, the Medicaid expansion will produce savings in state and local government costs for uncompensated care, which will offset at least some of the added state Medicaid costs. This hardly the huge, unsustainable costs of expansion claimed by the opponents of PPACA.
In addition, Medicaid expansion will create jobs — jobs, I say.
More documentation that these people are simply not competent to run this state or any other.
At least, the people in Louisiana are smart enough to have tanked Bobby Jindal’s number. But, no, no, not the SCGOP voters.
This just in: “The Obama administration will delay enforcement of the Affordable Care Act’s health insurance mandate, extending how long Americans may go
uninsured before facing a penalty under the law, MarketWatch has
learned.”
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/obamacare-mandate-may-be-delayed-2013-10-23?link=MW_story_popular
delay
——
The tea party tried to do the same thing, but the way THEY *didn’t* do it, it cost 120,000 jobs, and $3.1 billion in gross domestic product.
I wonder how much it will cost us to actually defund it.
Our state legislators cut pay to moms and children so they could give corporations a break on unemployment tax increase. These legislators need to be replaced, otherwise it’ll be same ole path down the same ole road as history has illustrated.
“And this money comes with all sorts of strings attached.”
Just once, I would like for one of them to tell us what the “strings” consist of.
Sounds like those evil ‘regulations’…about keeping air and water free of contaminants or worker and consumer safety.