My heart goes out to the residents of the areas affected by tornadoes and flooding in Texas, Oklahoma, and Mexico. I have heard some heartbreaking stories of loss of lives and of destruction of property. People have been washed away right in front of the eyes of their loved ones. That's the type of horror from which one cannot ever recover; at least not anytime soon.
Texas family missing after house knocked off foundation, struck bridge and shattered
Mother Nature visiting devastation on communities and families without regard to race, creed, culture, or wealth.
Rochelle, Illinois, 18-wheeler truck hit by tornado, lifted and knocked onto side in front of chase car
At least 35 people-- 14 in northern Mexico, 15 in Texas plus six in Oklahoma -- have died in the severe weather, both tornadoes and flooding from raging rivers. Another nine people are missing.
RIP to those gone too soon. Condolences to their loved ones. We encourage help to those who are in need.
I watched and listened as CNN - with the inevitable and much-abused "breaking news" banner - covered the unfolding horror in the cities of Wharton, Texas, with their population of 8,756, and Wimberley, Texas, with a population of 2582.
As I watched the frenzied activities surrounding the devastating after-effects of the tornadoes and flooding; the amount of justifiable coverage, it dawned on me that we should have at least the same amount of time, attention, and coverage devoted to the Republican's refusal to accept a program that was designed to prevent deaths. Where was the coverage of the 9000 who died in Texas last year?
According to reputable, peer-reviewed sources, approximately 9,000 people will die this year because Texas Republican Governors have refused to expand the Medicaid Expansion Program (MEP):
Lack of insurance will certainly mean more deaths. How many more? Approximately 9,000 a year, according to Dr. Howard Brody, director of the Institute for Medical Humanities at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston. Brody calculated that figure by extrapolating from a recent Harvard University study published in The New England Journal of Medicine that found that states that expanded Medicaid saw a 6.1 percent reduction in the death rate among adults below 65 who qualified for the program. In a recent op-ed in the Galveston Daily News Brody wrote, “This means that we can predict, with reasonable confidence, if we fail to expand Medicaid . . . 9,000 Texans will die each year for the next several years as a result.”
Wimberley and Wharton have a combined population of 11,338.
Mother nature's fury is visited on the just and the unjust, rich and the poor, Republicans and Democrats; she doesn't discriminate.
Republican governors, on the other hand, single out and victimize the poor and the voiceless. GOP governors have, by their inaction, condemned what amounts to whole towns of people to their premature and preventable deaths. Those who do not die will suffer. Losing eyesight, losing limbs due to complications from diabetes, suffer strokes and heart attacks, or will become bankrupt.
The horror of the consequences of not accepting the MEP should be breaking news all day every day. People are suffering right now. People are dying right now.
So okay, we have been saying this same thing for about four months now.
Why are we doing this FOIA series? Just what do we hope to achieve? Where are we going?
Our simple objective is to get GOP Govenors to accept the Medicaid Expansion Program. We have asked nicely. We have asked angriliy. We begged and pleaded, all to no avail. Do you think these heartless, dishonorable governors can be shamed into doing the right thing? It's worth a try, we say.
We are rapidly coming up on the shaming phase of our project.
Once we have rounded up all the responses, we plan to send press releases to the media. It will be interesting to see how these governors respond once the media begins asking the following questions: How many people are needlessly dying in your state because you will not Expand Medicaid? How many people have had to file for bankruptcy because you will not Expand Medicaid? What have you done to find out the answers to these questions?
We have sent out the FOIA requests and gotten back some responses (see green chart, below). We now know that the Republican governors and legislatures have done Jack Squat to keep keep track of the people who have died or are dying because of their wickedness.
Will you help us build up a media storm on behalf of our poor?
#LetOurPoorPeopleLive
Update on Our FOIA Progress
Four left!
Charting Our FOIA Progress: #LetOurPoorPeopleLive #STDDs
(Dark green indicates we have heard back.)
|
State |
Sent |
Heard Back |
Recipient |
Deaths |
Alabama |
|
|
Gov R.J. Bentley-R |
215-562 |
Alaska |
|
|
Gov Bill Warner-I |
32-91 |
Florida |
|
|
Gov Rick Scott-R |
1158-2221 |
Georgia |
|
|
Gov Nathan Deal-R |
561-1176 |
Idaho |
|
|
Gov Butch Otter-R |
76-179 |
Kansas |
|
|
Gov Sam Brownback-R |
113-330 |
Louisiana |
|
|
Gov Bobby Jindal-R |
249-542 |
Maine |
|
|
Gov Paul LePage-R |
31-157 |
Mississippi |
|
|
Gov Phil Bryant-R |
141-343 |
Missouri |
|
|
Sen Kurt Schaefer-R |
218-700 |
Montana |
|
|
Sen Art Wittich-R |
50-117 |
Nebraska |
|
|
Gov Pete Ricketts-R |
67-212 |
North Carolina |
|
|
Gov Pat McCrory-R |
455-1145 |
Oklahoma |
|
|
Gov Mary Fallin-R |
174-439 |
South Carolina |
|
|
Gov Nikki Haley-R |
209-551 |
South Dakota |
|
|
Gov Dennis Daugaard-R |
36-95 |
Tennessee |
|
|
Gov Bill Haslam-R |
284-759 |
Texas |
|
|
Gov Greg Abbott-R |
8000-9000 |
Virginia |
|
|
Sen Kathy J. Byron-R |
266-987 |
Wisconsin |
|
|
Gov Scott Walker-R |
139-671 |
Wyoming |
|
|
Gov Matt Mead-R |
22-69 |
Notes:
Abbreviations R Republican. D Democratic. I Independent. Gov Governor. Sen State Senator.
Alaska: The newly elected governor supports Medicaid expansion; however, Alaska's legislature opposes it. We sent a supportive FOIA request to the Alaska Governor. Indiana: The Governor now supports the Medicaid expansion. Montana: Montana is waiting for federal approval of their version of Medicaid expansion. Wisconsin: STDDs continue to support Citizen Action of Wisconsin; however, we filed our own FOIA request for Wisconsin.
Source: Health Affairs Blog: Opting Out Of Medicaid Expansion: The Health And Financial Impacts.
Next Action Steps:
1. Letters to the editor by readers, Kossacks, and followers and members of Support the Dream Defenders.
2. Press releases by readers, Kossacks, and followers and members of Support the Dream Defenders. |
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About Support the Dream Defenders
Members of the Daily Kos group Support the Dream Defenders invigorate three ongoing projects:
1. We coalesced to support the Dream Defenders in Florida and their mission, our first project and the origin of our name. The Dream Defenders defend the Dream of Martin Luther King Jr. by "develop(ing) the next generation of radical leaders to realize and exercise our independent collective power; building alternative systems and organizing to disrupt the structures that oppress our communities." Please donate here.
2. Our Michael Brown Over-Policed Rights Act, crowd-sourced at Daily Kos in the fall of 2014. This bill quickly gained the support of the NAACP and the ACLU. The NAACP forwarded our bill to members of Congress, and we distributed it to members of the Congressional Black Caucus and other progressive members of Congress. President Obama signed into a law a small piece of our bill in December 2014. Our state version of the MBOPRA is currently in committee in the Kansas legislature.
3. Our Freedom of Information Act project. Nineteen Republican governors chose to kill poor people by not expanding Medicaid. Ebola has killed about 9000 people in total; Republican governors kill 17,000 people PER YEAR by refusing federal support for Medicaid, a story ignored by traditional media. Our project forces those governors to out themselves, clapping them in a Catch 22. We will publicize our results through letters to the editor and via press releases. We no longer need volunteers to file FOIA requests, since we have already mailed all such requests.
More information about STTDs here.
This is a community diary.
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