More Than A Decade On, Medicaid Expansion Continues To Win Over (Formerly) Bright Red States... Obamacare Was, And Is, A Smart Idea.

Though the GOP has in many ways found less meaningful, but more wildly-divisive wedge issues (especially in its MAGA wing) to motivate its base -- in turnout/registration, and donation drives, over the last few years. . . we recall that there was a time when GOP Governors would have you believe that expanding federal health care reimbursement money for all its citizens of limited means. . . was some form of 1919-era Russian Communism. [It has failed. Utterly.]

It never made sense not to accept a 95% pure subsidy to cover the poorest people in a red state, since far and away, red states consume more federal money than they contribute in taxes, generally -- and their populations are, in the main, less healthy than the blue ones, especially as they age into retirement. But that was the Ted Cruz gambit: paint Democrats as. . . communists.

It seems only marginally less silly, now than say trying to paint sensible gun control as. . . fascism (the current nonsense position of the GOP). In any event, the world has moved on. . . for the better. Especially for the betterment of people of limited means who need. . . real health care, not fake "catastrophic only" privately capitalized / gouging plans. Here it is, from a few days ago, in The NY Times:

. . .North Carolina on Monday became the 40th state to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, the latest sign of how Republican opposition to the health measure has weakened more than a decade after President Barack Obama signed it into law. . . .

Gov. Roy Cooper, a Democrat, signed legislation expanding the state’s Medicaid program during a sunny afternoon ceremony on the lawn of the Executive Mansion, days after the Republican-controlled legislature gave final approval to the measure. He was surrounded by patients, advocates and some of the same Republican leaders who had previously blocked expansion in the state.

The bill will expand Medicaid to adults who make up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level, or about $41,000 for a family of four. State officials say the expansion will cover an estimated 600,000 people. It will take effect when the state adopts a budget, likely by June, Mr. Cooper said in an interview before the signing ceremony. . . .

It is both gratifying, and maddening, to see. How many red state seniors and people of limited means generally, have died in the decade we watched unfold, all while their governors filed specious lawsuits to prevent federal aid directly to the poor?

But well done, North Carolina, just the same.

Out, smiling. . . c'mon -- Tennessee, you're next.

नमस्ते