Cold, callous, and without compassion (or a clue)
I’ve written before about Michigan Republican Senator Joe Hune’s offensive opposition to expanding Medicaid to nearly half a million Michiganders — working Michiganders with jobs that don’t provide health insurance or a wage that allows them to purchase it on their own. In the past he has said, “I just can’t get past the whole concept of a half a million new people on Medicaid. That’s what it boils down to.”
With a Senate vote on Medicaid expansion coming this week, maybe even today, Hune is again in the news, telling our working poor fellow citizens that they aren’t worthy to receive affordable health insurance. This time however, he has gone another step and calls the idea “nauseating”:
Hune said “Hell, no,” when asked Monday if he would support the bill.“I think this expansion of government by 400,000 to 500,000 new people that are depending on the government for health care is more nauseating than probably just about any tax increase that we can put forth simply because it is an entitlement we are not going to be able to be rein in,” he added.
It’s a telling comment about how completely out of touch this so-called public servant is. To describe providing affordable health care coverage to people with jobs who are trying to make a living and better themselves as a nauseating entitlement is truly offensive. It shines a bright spotlight on this man’s lack of character and lack of compassion.
Hune went on to utter this unbelievable wharrgarbl:
[Hune] encouraged those relying on Medicaid expansion by the start of 2014 to complain to the federal government.What they should be doing, he said, is petitioning Washington, D.C., “to repeal the whole damn thing. … The federal government is the one that said, ‘You have to have it.’ ”
What I wrote about him last month rings just as true today:
What Mr. Hune is saying here is that we as a society cannot afford to make sure all of our citizens have adequate access to health care. The very thing that makes Medicaid expansion good and right is, to Hune, the reason NOT to do it. Never mind that the program is paid for. Never mind that the federal government has never reneged on its promises with regard to Medicaid. None of that matters to him.It’s a cold, heartless, and mean-spirited position that suggests one of two things: either Joe Hune is not smart enough to be a state senator or, more likely, it’s simply a transparent excuse to do whatever he can to make the Affordable Care Act fail.
Here’s the reality: Michigan is going to pay for this program either way. We can choose to participate so that nearly a half-million working poor can now have adequate health insurance that well help prevent them using emergency rooms for their medical care — an extremely expensive option that increases health care costs of ALL Michiganders. Or we can choose to participate, save millions upon millions of dollars over time, create jobs, and help our struggling fellow citizens lead healthier lives. It will, in fact, SAVE lives. But, for Hune, we can’t afford it.
Joe Hune may, in fact, not be smart enough to be a state senator. Or, more likely, he’s a liar and a hypocrite that is simply standing in the way of a victory for President Obama.
It’s shameful.
You can be very sure of this: as the 2014 election season rolls around, I and many others will be working our butts off to throw this sorry excuse for a legislator out of office. I will consider it an act of patriotism.
It’s not too late to call your senator and ask them to do the right thing and vote to expand Medicaid in Michigan. Details on how to do that can be found in Amy’s piece HERE.
