In McConnells Own State, Fear and Confusion Over Health Care Bill
WHITESBURG, Ky. — Dewey Gorman, a 59-year-old banker who has struggled with opioid addiction, had just gotten out of the hospital in this tiny central Appalachian city when he heard the word from Washington: His fellow Kentuckian, Senator Mitch McConnell, had delayed a vote to repeal the Affordable Care Act. He felt torn about that.
“It’s broken. It’s broken very badly,” Mr. Gorman said of former President Barack Obama’s signature health care law. “But if they want to take away insurance from 22 million people — a lot of them would come from these mountains. That would be devastating to our area.”
Perhaps nowhere has health care law had as powerful an impact as in Kentucky, where nearly one in three people now receive coverage through Medicaid, expanded under the legislation. Perhaps no region in Kentucky has benefited as much as Appalachia, the impoverished eastern part of the state, where in some counties more than 60 percent of people are covered by Medicaid.
And in few places are the political complexities of health care more glaring than in this poor state with crushing medical needs, substantially alleviated by the Affordable Care Act, but where Republican opposition to the law remains almost an article of faith. While some Senate moderates say the Republican bill is too harsh, Rand Paul, Kentucky’s other Republican senator, is among Senate Republicans who say they are opposed to the current bill for a different reason: They believe it does not go far enough to reduce costs. . .
Sitting in her hospital bed here Tuesday morning, she said she was surprised to hear that Mr. McConnell, whom she had voted for previously, was leading the charge to roll it back.
“He is?” she asked. “Well, then, he’s no good for Kentucky.”'>>>
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/28/us/mcconnell-kentucky-health-care-bill.html?
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...in rural Ohio, KY, and TN...
I don't find myself in rural areas I'm other states...a little in PA...but sheesh...it's horrendous. And I think KY might be the worst. Continually sending Mitch back, voting for Bevin (who openly campaigned on killing their functioning exchange)...and then wondering "how'd this happen".
Sheesh.
