The Arizona DEATH PANELS of Jan Brewer And The GOP

This is such an outrageous story that it’s nearly impossible to wrap one’s mind around. All of our expectations of what a just society should be, all of our expectations of what kind of social safety net a modern state ought to provide its citizens is encapsulated in this grotesque example of inhumanity by the Republican state of Arizona, practically condemning 98 critically ill persons to death, one whose liver transplant was literally called off at the last minute, just so the state could save a few million dollars. What price a human life? In Arizona where 98 critically ill patients will be denied life-saving transplants, about $51,000 and change.

I had not known about this when I had this exchange with a conservative commenter regarding Medicaid. She said:

You're not going to like this, but Medicaid should have an expiration date. I have known too many people who do not pursue promotions/better jobs because they don't want to make more and not qualify for it. Medicaid serves a purpose, and it should be a help up and out of a bad situation, not perpetuating it.

The more thoughtful reply would be to point out that people on Medicaid would not need to resort to these kinds of non-choices if they had affordable, universal healthcare. But I was so reflexively angry by this ubiquitous attitude pervading the Right that poor people, down on their luck, are somehow unworthy of government-provided healthcare, that they’re gaming the system etc., an attitude which first came to light with Ronald Reagan’s made-up welfare queen, that I exploded in the rant below. I apologize for my tone, but not for my words. They are true. The weakest and most vulnerable in our society are the first to be tossed overboard in times of austerity. The rich not only get richer, but we are pressured to reward them even more.

You're right. This Medicaid thing is shameful. Why is it that you people take such pleasure in picking on the poorest and most vulnerable in our society? At the same time you're slobbering all over each other to give the top 2% oligarchs who rule this country another deficit-busting tax cut? It's not Obama, it's your crowd that's bringing this country down, creating a third world economy of the super-rich oligarchs, 2% who own 24% of all our wealth. Shame on each and every one of you who support these policies, and who have hearts of stone when it comes to the poor. 

I get it. Medicaid = poor people, black = throw 'em all in the gutter and under the bus. We don't need 1-in-5 children in this country going hungry; LET'S MAKE IT ONE-IN-THREE! YEAH! STOMP 'EM, STOMP 'EM! USA, USA, USA!


Please watch these segments of Countdown, no matter what you may think of Keith, and reflect on them. One of the saddest things of it all is that one of the victims of this inhumane system says he “understands” that the government is out of money (not true) and is almost apologetic that his insurance will not cover him because he is a high risk — precisely the kind of attitude among the victims of the system that the ruling elites count on to maintain their profit margins and inhumane rationing of care.