Tennessee Tea Puppet opposes gov't-run programs, says Medicare is "better"

[brentspeak]

I don't know what kind of "engineer" this guy could possibly have been -- maybe helped engineer Skylab, the Hyatt Regency Hotel walkway, or the space shuttle Challenger.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/elections/rebuke-tennessee-governor-koch-group-shows-its-power-n301031

In Rebuke of Tennessee Governor, Koch Group Shows Its Power

NASHVILLE-In December, Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam, a Republican, got the deal he wanted from the Obama administration: Tennessee would accept more than $1 billion in federal funding to expand Medicaid, as allowed for in the Affordable Care Act, but Obama aides would allow Haslam to essentially write staunchly conservative ideas into the program's rules for the state. He dubbed the reformed Medicaid program "Insure Tennessee."

But the state's chapter of Americans for Prosperity, the national conservative group whose foundation is chaired by controversial billionaire David Koch, argued Haslam was just trying to trick conservatives into implementing Obamacare in their state by giving it a new name. AFP campaigned aggressively Haslam's plans for the next six weeks, even running radio ads blasting GOP state legislators who said they might vote for it.

On Wednesday, Haslam's bill died in a committee of the Tennessee state senate. The vote was one of the clearest illustrations of the increasing power of AFP and other conservative groups funded in part by the Koch brothers.

snip

"I'm skeptical of government-run programs," said Louis Stans, a retired engineer who was part of the AFP group. Medicare, Stans said, was "better" and he had "paid into it my whole life."

[TheCowsCameHome]

1. You tell 'em, Louie.

By golly, I'm glad someone on the right finally gets it.

[hopemountain]

2. stating exactly what progressives say

but meaning the opposite. mirrors intended to confuse the voters. exactly what the powerful .01% are intending to do to get the votes to support their "prosperity" agenda.

[Stallion]

3. Well Louie Got it 1/2 Right Which is Better than Republicans

nm

[Go Vols]

4. We have TennCare in Tenn. for the last 20+ years

That worked well in the beginning under a D Governor.From what I hear now its pretty hard to get it though.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TennCare

[jwirr]

10. Was this managed care for disabled adults? That is an adition to Medicaid for disabled persons who

cost more to care for and were not covered under Medicaid.

[Go Vols]

11. There is no medicaid(by name) in Tenn.

TennCare was supposed to be an enhanced Medicaid that was better,the money came from the same place as medicaid tho.

[hifiguy]

5. We will never, ever even make a dent in, much less deplete

America's natural reserves of stupidify. There's enough to last until the heat death of the universe.

[Aristus]

6. Better?

Even Medicare can't fix stupid...

[nichomachus]

7. You don't understand. Medicare isn't a government program.

As a right-wing acquaintance of mine explained to me. The government has hired a private corporation to run Medicare. That's why it works.

Where he gets this from (besides Fox News) is that there is a federal agency, CMS, that coordinates between Medicare and Medicare. Because mail that you get concerning Medicare payments comes from CMS, the wingnuts have decided that this is a private corporation. And that's the lie that's spread by Fox.

[jwirr]

8. Louis Stans got his and he does not care about anyone else.

[spanone]

9. k&r...

[phantom power]

12. it's like being in hell