Meet The Republican Wing Of The Democratic Party-- Still Undermining The Affordable Care Act

Far right extremist and anti-health care fanatic Bill Cassidy (R-LA) is running for Mary Landrieu's Senate seat. Yesterday his bill to allow substandard health insurance policies to be sold on the open market-- even if they are just scams that cheat consumers-- passed the Republican-controlled House 247-167. Every single Republican-- including the fake moderates-- voted for it… and they were joined by the usual suspects from the Democratic side of the Chamber. 25 Blue Dogs and New Dems from the Republican wing of the Democratic Party crossed the aisle and voted with the GOP.

Extremely corrupt New Dem Colleen Hanabusa, who had been trying to portray herself as a mainstream Democrat while she ran for the Senate, was defeated in that run and is now back to voting with the corporate shills against Democratic values and principles. A month ago she would have been a NO vote for sure. But yesterday, true to form, Hanabusa was back to voting with the greed-obsessed conservatives who are well taken care of by insurance companies and Big Pharma. Hanabusa will be out of Congress entirely come January. but you might want to study this list of the 25 Democrats eager to use the Affordable Care Act as an electoral punching bag just before the midterms-- just like a Republican:

• Ron Barber (BlueDog/New Dem-AZ)
• John Barrow (Blue Dog/New Dem-GA)
• Ami Bera (New Dem-CA)
• Julia Brownley (CA)
• Cheri Bustos (Blue Dog-IL)
• Bill Enyart (IL)
• Bill Foster (New Dem-IL)
• Pete Gallego (Blue Dog/New Dem-TX)
• Joe Garcia (New Dem-FL)
• Colleen Hanabusa (New Dem-HI)
• Ann Kuster (New Dem-NH)
• Dave Loebsack (IA)
• Dan Maffei (New Dem-NY)
• Sean Patrick Maloney (New Dem-NY)
• Jim Matheson (Blue Dog-UT)
• Mike McIntyre (Blue Dog/New Dem-NC)
• Patrick Murphy (New Dem-FL)
• Scott Peters (New Dem-CA)
• Gary Peters (New Dem-MI)
• Collin Peterson (Blue Dog-MN)
• Nick Rahall (Blue Dog-MN)
• Brad Schneider (New Dem-IL)
• Kyrsten Sinema (Blue Dog/New Dem-AZ)
• Filemon Vela (New Dem-TX)
• Tim Walz (MN)

The health insurance scams they were voting to legalize tend to be cut-rate junk plans that do not include coverage of maternity care, prescription drugs, outpatient services and lab services, leaving consumers up shit's creek without a paddle. The Senate is unlikely to even take the bill up-- unless Republicans take control in November-- and President Obama has already said he would veto the bill if it ever came to his desk.



Among Democrats who are embracing the optics of expanding-- rather than contracting-- healthcare are 5 Democrats running in highly competitive gubernatorial elections: Charlie Crist (FL), Mike Michaud (ME), Mary Burke (WI), Jason Carter (GA) and Paul Davis (KS).

Medicaid expansion is a core issue in Florida, where the state’s one-time Republican governor, Charlie Crist, is now running as a Democrat and embracing Obama as part of his campaign.

Crist has pledged to take every step to capture more Medicaid dollars, even threatening a budget line-item veto against the GOP-controlled legislature that’s already blocked a similar effort. Florida stands to gain $66.1 billion over 10 years with the expansion, which is expected to cost about $5.3 billion over that time, according to the Urban Institute.



The Democrat’s sharp position on expanding Medicaid has called attention to the changing stance of current Republican governor, Rick Scott.



Two years ago, Scott wrote in an op-ed that Medicaid expansion was “bad for states” because “we don't need the federal government telling us what to do when it comes to meeting the needs of the citizens of our states.”



With less than two months until the election, Scott now backs an expansion of Medicaid, at least for the first three years.



“I’m not going to stand in the way of the federal government doing something,” he told the Miami Herald last month.



Medicaid also has emerged as a centerpiece of this fall’s battle between Maine’s Republican governor, Paul LePage, and his Democratic opponent, Rep. Mike Michaud. 

Michaud, who voted to support ObamaCare in 2010, has pledged to expand Medicaid the first day he is sworn into office. LePage has already vetoed five different bills to expand Medicaid.



LePage now holds one of the lowest approval ratings of any governor in the country (41 percent), which a Michaud spokeswoman called proof that voters don’t back his approach to health care.



“The only thing stopping us from being able to expand access to care is one man-- Gov. LePage,” the Democratic candidate’s spokeswoman Lizzy Reinholt said. “There’s no doubt that Republicans have tried to message it in a way that makes folks less likely to support it. But at the same time, the facts are clear.”

  

If Maine moves forward with its expansion, it could accept $3.1 billion in federal dollars over the next decade, according to a report last month by the Urban Institute.

A wild card in the Maine race is an Independent candidate, Eliot Cutler, who some observers think could cost Michaud the race. Cutler has said he also supports expanding Medicaid for Maine residents.

Democrats are able to back expanding Medicaid because it is popular.

In fact, all 5 Democrats running hard on the issue, are polling ahead of their anti-health care Republican opponents.