We need a term of art for states that were part of the First World but voluntarily decided to demote themselves to a twilight world that no longer possesses the attributes typical of first-world places. Arkansas is now one such state.
As Medicaid expansion in Arkansas took shape in their state:
Since then, the state’s uninsured rate has been cut in half. Emergency room visits decreased by more than 35 percent, and the number of uninsured people admitted to hospitals dropped by more than 45 percent, saving hospitals in the state more than $69.2 million.
Nothing like cutting off your nose to spite your face. Apparently, Arkansas Republicans can’t stand success because it was originally implemented under a Democratic Governor and President. Republicans try so hard to go out of their way to make it harder for the poorest Americans. All they care about are the donations to their campaigns, and obviously the poor present them with problems in that area. So long as they can bamboozle and lie enough to them for their vote, that’s all that matters to them.
One widely criticized aspect of Arkansas’ new rules is that everyone enrolled in Medicaid has to document their work hours through an online portal created by the state — with no option to submit information in person, over the by phone, or by mail.
According to the Census Bureau, Arkansas has the second-lowest rate of home internet access in the nation, only slightly above Mississippi.
That’s intentional. A feature, not a bug.
These changes are nonsensical and shortsighted obviously. Spending $1 million to make the changes? Whereas KY spent $190 million basically to do the same thing? Even that shows how little they care about those people that need healthcare in their state. Pure evil.
Amen - I live in Florida and while on Unemployment a couple years ago, was told by a guy who was part of the system, that when Florida modified its system, it became clear during his training (though not explicitly stated) that the known result of requiring online access only would result in people losing benefits - so, Yes - it’s intentional, and is a feature, not a bug. But that could be a summation of most all Republican policies- cruelty is a feature not a bug.
Gaud I hope there is a hell. It’s the least these people deserve.
I predict it’ll be costlier to judge five people, than it did to help six. But half the state will be in denial. They’ll be evenly split between just plain ignorant, and mistaking their judgements for help. A small fraction, into whom the truth does manage to sink will value their smug satisfaction more that the money being wasted.
This should be challenged in court, I hope the ACLU is on the case…
Everything these Republicans do these days should be challenged in court. Its gotten that bad.
Aw, I KNOW Scott Walker wanted to be first.
There is so much I wanna say about this but reading that article took my breath away and left me smh.
has to document their work hours through an online portal created by the state
This ought to work every bit as well as making Puerto Ricans, who lacked both power and internet access, apply for FEMA relief on-line. Makes perfect sense … if you’re a Rethugliklan.
We all know this has nothing to do with saving money and everything to do with racism. The GOP has never cared about the budget or efficiency in government; all that talk about welfare queens before was dog whistles, not wanting those people to get a cent of help. Of course, American-style racism doesn’t care about white people either; poor whites are held in nearly as much contempt as minorities, so collateral damage is both acceptable and approved of, but the white poor will continue to support shooting themselves in the feet so long as they think they are still somehow in a special, higher class than other people, even if they effectively are not.
I am a Civil War enthusiast and historian and that is my passion. I catch a lot of flak from my online friends on the left for the various avatars I use in forums like this. Because of that among other things, my friends on the right sometimes ask me why I stick with the Democratic Party. This article says it better than I can.
My daughter did a stint in AmeriCorps. One of her assignments was in rural Arkansas. Her descriptions of the poverty and lack of opportunities were stunning.
So the rethugs used the fact of a Black President to get poor white trash to vote them into power. Now they use that power to grind them down further – being careful as always to grind down the Black community even more.
I’m sure that the local offices of state and federal representatives have internet access.
And we’re giving them the huge benefit of the doubt to assume that the portal even works and won’t be subject to hacking.
The People’s Republic of Walmart seems to take special delight in driving itself backward into the darker ages. There are worse-off states (yo, Mississippi), more disadvantaged states, states that face more systemic future challenges (hey, WV). But none seem quite so excited to jump off the diving board into failed-state territory.
It’s hard to believe this is the state of Governor Clinton, you know? Unrecognizable.
One of the things I did after the 2008 election was to compare the results for McCain in the southern states,versus Bush’s results in 2000 and 2004. I wish I had saved the data. As you might guess, McCain did way better than GWB.
You left out Louisiana. Jindal and friends f**ked up Louisiana pretty good.
For many low income people, their primary access to the internet is through their local libraries. Given the tax and budget cuts, do all of Arkansas’ libraries still have internet access accessible to the public?
I believe the current term is “shit hole” states.