Texas Conservatives Want To Pull Out Of Medicaid

Irrationally exuberant over decisive victories in the past week’s election, some far-right Texas Republicans are suggesting that the state fix its budget woes by withdrawing from Medicaid. Man, the government in Texas sure does hate the government.

Emily Ramshaw of the Times writes that while moderate Republicans are reviewing the proposal from behind closed doors, some are saying that withdrawal from the program that helps the impoverished access medical care was brought up not because it’s the only way possible to balance the state’s budget, but because some right-wingers in Texas really want to tell Washington, DC and President Obama to fuck off.

That government! Having the courage to stand up to those bullies in government!

I can’t imagine expecting to get a job by telling the interviewer that my first order of business for the company was to get inside it and take it down because I think the company is bad, bad, bad — and yet, the American people keep electing people to work for a government they claim to hate so very much. How can we expect people to do a good job in a job they think is unnecessary? It’s like appointing Chris Hitchens to the position of archbishop.

Texans who advocate withdrawing from Medicaid claim the state would come up with an alternative program. No matter what happens, we all can rest assured that medical care for poor people is now an acceptable political bargaining chip.