Leave it to Governor Corbett to use his better late than never Medicare Medicaid expansion as a political move to go after the lower class and to pad his jobless numbers in the same move. If President Obama is a “jedi-master” and “12th dimensional chess champion” as described by some, then Governor Corbett is the monopoly money bags champion that would have thrived if he lived in the 1920’s.
The Philadelphia Inquirer is reporting that Governor Corbett’s Medicaid expansion isn’t going to actually expand the state’s medicare Medicaid system. His proposal will force people to get private health insurance and pay monthly co-pays. The article states:
Corbett, ending months of speculation about whether the state would take advantage of billions in Medicaid dollars, will seek approval from the federal government to provide private health coverage rather than expand the state’s Medicaid rolls, say several people who were briefed on the plan.
Corbett’s “Healthy PA” plan will contain additional provisions such as co-pays and work-search requirements for both new and existing Medicaid recipients. Their co-pays would be based on income that would be capped at $25 a month.
The best little nugget in that last section states that those who will be getting this “private insurance” will have to take part in some sort of work search program. The article mentions that Governor Corbett is the only governor in the country to require work search requirements in an expansion plan.
So, Governor Corbett, once again, finds a way to denigrate the unemployed and the poor by using a “makers vs. takers” ploy in the expansion of a medicare Medicaid program that isn’t actually a medicare expansion. Or maybe the governor is trying to use this expansion money to help boost the shitty jobless numbers that have been reported month, after month, after month, after month, after month since his time as governor? You decide.
