One of the oddest realities of American politics is that right-wing Republicans who have fought hardest against the Affordable Care Act represent states that stand to benefit the most from it. Texas Senator Ted Cruz, who has compared his fight to defund the Affordable Care Act to the fight against Nazi Germany, is from a state with the highest percentage of uninsured citizens in America. One in four of 25 million Texans lacks health insurance; the Affordable Care Act will cover 3.5 million of them. A million more would have been covered if Texas Gov. Rick Perry hadn’t nixed the laws expansion of Medicaid. More than 10 million Texans, including 1.6 million children, have a pre-existing health condition, such as asthma or diabetes, which insurers will also have to cover because of the Act. So here’s today’s question: Once the Act is fully implemented, will the citizens who benefit from it in Texas and similar states turn against their Tea Party representatives? Or are the Act’s beneficiaries the poor and minorities whom the Tea Party has turned into scapegoats for the economic insecurities of the working class in these states?
Posted on: Mon, 21 Oct 2013 15:12:25 +0000