The $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan includes direct stimulus payments for Americans and a generous amount of funds for state and local governments, but it also includes financial incentives for expanding access to Medicaid under Obamacare.
Because the federal government already covers 90 percent of the cost of expanding Medicaid, the American Rescue Plan would actually pay state governments to expand access but some GOP governors still won't budge.
In Mississippi, Governor Tate Reeves says he won't expand access to Medicaid even though it would result in a $310 million windfall for his government.
“My position has not changed. I am opposed to expanding Medicaid in Mississippi,” Gov. Reeves said during a press conference covered by the Mississippi Free Press. When asked by Vox if the prospect of additional funding might make him reconsider his opposition to Medicaid expansion, Reeves said, “No, sir, it will not.” [...]
The Kaiser Family Foundation estimated that Medicaid expansion would cost Mississippi $290 million over two years before including the roughly $600 million in new stimulus money. In essence, Reeves is forfeiting hundreds of millions of dollars to deny his constituents health care in the middle of a pandemic. In an interview with Mississippi Today, Senate Public Health Committee Chair Hob Bryan, a Democrat, stressed that there “will be more money in the state treasury if we expand Medicaid than if we don’t.”
Governor Reeves recently became the first governor to sign a bill into law that bans transgender women and girls from participating in sports programs.
I suppose that's a higher priority than expanding access to healthcare and literally getting paid to do it. And they would tell you that people like me are the freaks.
Don't vote for bigots who actually who want you broke and dead, too.