The GOP penchant for red tape

Saw a familiar story out of Missouri this week. Missouri, whose voters passed the ACA's Medicaid expansion over the objections of its legislators who blocked expansion for years, is slow-walking applications for the program. This as the legislature looks for new ways to try and defund the expansion itself.

Missouri taking months to process Medicaid applications

Now, Missouri has more pending applications for MO HealthNet -- the name of the state's Medicaid program -- than people enrolled through the expansion. While 64,210 people have been approved as part of the expansion, nearly 73,000 applications were pending as of early February.

In the state's most recent report, it said it was taking an average of 70 days to process typical applications -- longer than the 45 days allowed by federal law . .

By contrast, most other states are processing Medicaid applications within a week, with many cases taking less than a day, according to federal data from 2021.

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This is a favorite GOP tactic: build as much bureaucracy, red tape, and loathing of one's constituents as possible into government programs to deny as many citizens as possible the services to which they're entitled. We also saw it, for instance, in Florida in 2020, when suddenly lots of people needed to access the state's unemployment system and DeSantis was forced to admit that Rick Scott, his GOP predecessor, had intentionally designed it to be a bureaucratic nightmare.

Gov. Says Florida's Unemployment System Was Designed To Create 'Pointless Roadblocks'

Amid staggering job losses in March and April, Florida's unemployment system was the slowest in the country to process claims. Residents described nightmarish experiences as they tried to get benefits. By April 20, just 6% of Floridians who had applied for unemployment benefits had received a check.

Gov. Ron DeSantis said that result was by design.

"Having studied how [the unemployment system] was internally constructed, I think the goal was for whoever designed, it was, 'Let's put as many kind of pointless roadblocks along the way, so people just say, oh, the hell with it, I'm not going to do that,' " DeSantis told a Miami CBS affiliate this week.

Florida's online system, known as CONNECT, debuted in October 2013 during the administration of DeSantis' fellow Republican Rick Scott, now a U.S. senator.

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The Georgia GOP speaks for plenty of Republicans when it admits that its "innovative healthcare solutions," its big ideas about how to tackle the big problems in health care, are to build more red tape, more forms, more verifications, more opportunities to boot someone off their coverage for forgetting to check a box or mail in a document. All to try and deny as many people benefits as possible. Inspiring stuff.

Georgia Suing Biden Administration Over Medicaid Rejection

“Simply put, the Biden administration is obstructing our ability to implement innovative healthcare solutions for more than 50,000 hardworking Georgia families rather than rely on a one-size-fits-none broken system," Georgia Gov Brian Kemp, a Republican, said in a news release announcing the lawsuit.

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That's the danger of building a governing philosophy around notions that the government shouldn't work and loathing of anyone who might need to access its services.

Gee, it may have something to do with Missouri's suit against the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act of 2010. Missouri is by no means alone either. 28 States have refused to implement the illegal ACA, including Alaska.

Glitch said:

Gee, it may have something to do with Missouri's suit against the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act of 2010. Missouri is by no means alone either. 28 States have refused to implement the illegal ACA, including Alaska.

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SCOTUS has repeatedly ruled that the ACA is Constitutional.

Glitch said:

Gee, it may have something to do with Missouri's suit against the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act of 2010. Missouri is by no means alone either. 28 States have refused to implement the illegal ACA, including Alaska.

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Alaska also leads our nation in rapes (over double the next highest state).

Oh, and in 2020 (and probably in 2021) Alaska lead our great nation in Violent crimes per 100,000 people (by a lot).



I'd say having insurance in Alaska is fairly important. But keep fighting the ACA (as ~ 60% of all Americans aged 18-49 want it). That's a winning strategy.

Phys251 said:

SCOTUS has repeatedly ruled that the ACA is Constitutional.

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No, they have not.

CaughtInThe said:

I'd say having insurance in Alaska is fairly important. But keep fighting the ACA (as ~ 60% of all Americans aged 18-49 want it). That's a winning strategy.

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Yet 28 States have rejected the illegal ACA. Only leftist filth embrace the illegal law, as expected. As usual, nothing else you say is relevant.

Glitch said:

Yet 28 States have rejected the illegal ACA. Only leftist filth embrace the illegal law, as expected. As usual, nothing else you say is relevant.

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i'd say a lot of Alaskans live off Social Security and Medicare.

Glitch said:

No, they have not.

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National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius
King v. Burwell
California v. Texas

SCOTUS has repeatedly ruled that the ACA is constitutional.

Phys251 said:

National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius
King v. Burwell
California v. Texas

SCOTUS has repeatedly ruled that the ACA is constitutional.

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It was the Supreme Court in National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius that held ACA violated the Tenth Amendment. You should have actually read the decisions you post, because they are not what you think they are. You are simply regurgitating the leftist narrative like an obedient slave without having clue what those decisions contain.

CaughtInThe said:

i'd say a lot of Alaskans live off Social Security and Medicare.

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Some do, but not as many as you might think. The first problem they are going to experience is the lack of doctors who will accept MediCare/MedicAid patients. There aren't many doctors in Alaska, and fewer than 10% of those accept MediCare/MedicAid patients. The second problem they are going to experience is that Alaska is an expensive place to live. The cost of living in Anchorage, AK, is equivalent to Boston, MA, and it only gets worse the further you live from a city. If Social Security is their only source of income then they are going to be in trouble.

I will be 68 this coming May, and I am elligible for both Social Security and MediCare/MedicAid (having no taxable income), but I do not receive a penny from either program.

What most will do when they retire, if they can afford it, is become "snowbirds." They spend their Summers in Alaska, and their Winters in a State with a warm climate. Like Sarah Palin, who owns a home in Arizona as well as Alaska. In my case, however, there are no other States I would rather be. Winter in Alaska is the second most beautiful season, after Autumn.

Glitch said:

It was the Supreme Court in National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius that held ACA violated the Tenth Amendment. You should have actually read the decisions you post, because they are not what you think they are. You are simply regurgitating the leftist narrative like an obedient slave without having clue what those decisions contain.

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SCOTUS has repeatedly ruled that the ACA is constitutional. Only Medicaid expansion was struck down--everything else stood.

But please, keep embarrassing yourself with your pompous rhetoric and lies. They are amusing.

Glitch said:

Gee, it may have something to do with Missouri's suit against the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act of 2010. Missouri is by no means alone either. 28 States have refused to implement the illegal ACA, including Alaska.

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Unconstitutional? Why didn't the SCOTUS (final arbiter of constitutionality) say that?

Phys251 said:

SCOTUS has repeatedly ruled that the ACA is constitutional. Only Medicaid expansion was struck down--everything else stood.

But please, keep embarrassing yourself with your pompous rhetoric and lies. They are amusing.

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You are obviously not smart enough to comprehend that the MedicAid expansion the Supreme Court struck down as violating the Tenth Amendment was part of the Affordable Care Act of 2010.

mrjurrs said:

Unconstitutional? Why didn't the SCOTUS (final arbiter of constitutionality) say that?

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They did. You obviously haven't been paying attention. It must be the Democrat Propaganda Network you rely upon that let you down.

Glitch said:

They did. You obviously haven't been paying attention. It must be the Democrat Propaganda Network you rely upon that let you down.

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Or you got owned and you can't admit it.

One or the other.

Glitch said:

You are obviously not smart enough to comprehend that the MedicAid expansion the Supreme Court struck down as violating the Tenth Amendment was part of the Affordable Care Act of 2010.

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Don't admit that you lost. Keep flailing. I'm enjoying the free entertainment from you.

Glitch said:

They did. You obviously haven't been paying attention. It must be the Democrat Propaganda Network you rely upon that let you down.

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This should be good.

If SCOTUS declared the ACA unconstitutional, why is my family directly benefiting from it today?

Another quick question...Is AK going to elect someone that already quit on them once?

mrjurrs said:

This should be good.

If SCOTUS declared the ACA unconstitutional, why is my family directly benefiting from it today?

Another quick question...Is AK going to elect someone that already quit on them once?
View attachment 67384030

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You and your family undoubtedly benefit from many unconstitutional programs created by Democrats. Did any of your family benefit from the illegal eviction moritorium imposed by a Democrat-controlled Congress? Or are any receiving Social Security, or MediCare/MedicAid? What about a grade-school/high school public education after 1980? Just like the Affordable Care Act of 2010, they are all in violation of the US Constitution and therefore illegal.

Just because you are receiving benefits is no indication whether or not a federal program violates the US Constitution. If the US Constitution does not specifically grant the federal government the power, and they exercise that power anyway, then they are violating the Tenth Amendment of the US Constitution. Which is the case with Social Security, welfare, education, and healthcare. The federal government has no authority to be involving itself in any of those matters. Those areas are the exclusive authority of the States.

Glitch said:

Gee, it may have something to do with Missouri's suit against the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act of 2010. Missouri is by no means alone either. 28 States have refused to implement the illegal ACA, including Alaska.

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Alaska expanded Medicaid under the ACA in September 2015.

And Missouri expanded it as of last July.

Greenbeard said:

This is a favorite GOP tactic: build as much bureaucracy, red tape, and loathing of one's constituents as possible into government programs to deny as many citizens as possible the services to which they're entitled.

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When you say GOP, can you please specify whether you are talking about Establishment GOP or Populist GOP? Many people in the Populist GOP despise the establishment GOP as much as you do. It would be a shame to allow yourself to be divided and conquered by not recognizing this mutual interest.

Republicans say that government is incompetent, inefficient, and wasteful and they seek to prove it every time they hold public office.

substantialmajestic said:

When you say GOP, can you please specify whether you are talking about Establishment GOP or Populist GOP? Many people in the Populist GOP despise the establishment GOP as much as you do. It would be a shame to allow yourself to be divided and conquered by not recognizing this mutual interest.

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No difference. Regardless of whether these supposed factions of the GOP despise each other, they're united in despising Americans easily accessing benefits to which they're entitled.