That Time Mike Pence Used Obamacare

VICE PRESIDENT MIKE PENCE SURE SEEMS TO HATE THE AFFORDABLE
CARE ACT THESE DAYS, BUT IF YOU DIP INTO HIS TIME AS GOVERNOR OF
INDIANA IT TURNS OUT THAT HE HAS ACTUALLY IN SOME CASES USED IT
IN WAYS THAT WERE EXTREMELY BENEFICIAL TO SOME OF THOSE MOST
VULNERABLE IN HIS STATE.
THIS HAPPENED A YEAR AGO DURING AN
HIV EPIDEMIC --
IT HAD SOME POSITIVE EFFECTS --
WHICH IS BASICALLY JUST THE INDIANA VERSION OF MEDICAID
EXPANSION PROGRAMS AT THE STATE LEVEL THAT WE SEEN IN A NUMBER
OF STATES.
SOME GENERALLY REPUBLICAN GOVERNORS REFUSED TO
SET UP THOSE SORT OF STATE PROGRAMS, AND WE'VE SEEN WHEN
YOU COMPARE THE HEALTH OUTCOMES OF STATES WITH THE EXPANSION AND
WITHOUT IT, IT WAS PROBABLY A GOOD IDEA IN MOST CASES.
THANKFULLY PENCE ACTUALLY DID IT.
WE HAVE A QUOTE FROM THE
STATE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH SPOKESPERSON THAT TALKS ABOUT
THIS --
THEN WE GET TO THE PRESENT, AND THE PROBLEM HERE IS THAT
PENCE DOESN'T LIKE OBAMACARE, HIS ADMINISTRATION DOESN'T LIKE
IT, AND REPUBLICANS HAVE SAID THEY ARE GOING TO GET.
IN THE
PROBLEM THERE IS THAT WELL HIP 2.0 IS A STATE-LEVEL PROGRAM,
ITS FUNDING COMES OVERWHELMINGLY THROUGH THE AFFORDABLE CARE ACT.
IS IT POSSIBLE FUNDING COULD BE FOUND FROM SOME OTHER SOURCE IF
THE ACA WAS REPEALED?
IT'S POSSIBLE, BUT THAT HAS NOT BEEN
DISCUSSED, I HAVEN'T SEEN MIKE PENCE TALKING ABOUT IT, HE SAYS
HE WANTS TO KEEP THE PROGRAM GOING BUT HAS NEVER IN MY NEXT
TALKED ABOUT WHERE THE FUNDING WOULD COME FROM.
AND THE PEOPLE
DEPENDING ON IT FOR THEIR HIV TREATMENT RIGHT NOW IN INDIANA,
AND THOSE WITH ANY NUMBER OF DIFFERENT CONDITIONS WHO RELY ON
ANY NUMBER OF DIFFERENT STATE-LEVEL PROGRAMS, ARE ALL AT
RISK IF THE ACA WERE TO BE REPEALED.
A DUMB POINT, HIP 2.0 SOUNDS LIKE A MISSY ELLIOTT
SONG.
NOW AN ACTUAL POINT THAT SHOULD MATTER, I GUESS -- I
THINK THIS IS AN EXAMPLE OF SO MANY PROGRESSIVE POLICIES THAT
WE'VE BEEN ADVOCATING FOR, RIGHT, WHEN IT COMES TO HOW YOU
DEAL WITH DRUG ABUSE, HOW YOU DEAL WITH, YOU KNOW, SAFE SITES
WHERE PEOPLE CAN DO INJECTIONS OF DRUGS THAT THEY ARE ADDICTED
TO SO THEY DON'T RELY ON SHARING NEEDLES, WHEN IT COMES TO HOW
YOU CARE FOR THE PUBLIC THROUGH HEALTHCARE -- LIKE, ALL OF THESE
THINGS WORKED WHEN IT CAME TO THIS COUNTY.
THIS COUNTY DEALT
WITH A SERIOUS OPIOID EPIDEMIC, A SERIOUS DRUG EPIDEMIC, AND SO
INSTEAD OF CRIMINALIZING ALL OF THEM AND TREATING THEM LIKE CRAP
YOU ACTUALLY PROVIDE HEALTHCARE.
AND SO THE FACT THAT SOMEONE
LIKE PENCE -- AND REPUBLICANS IN GENERAL -- HATE OBAMACARE IS
JUST CRAZY TO ME, BECAUSE YES THERE ARE SERIOUS PROBLEMS WITH
OBAMACARE, THERE ARE SERIOUS GAPS THAT NEED TO BE FIXED,
SERIOUS FLAWS THAT NEED TO BE FIXED, BUT AT THE SAME TIME
OBAMACARE HELPED THE LIVES AND SAVE THE LIVES OF SO MANY
PEOPLE, MY MOM BEING ONE OF THEM, MY MOM WHO HAD A
PRE-EXISTING CONDITION, NEEDED A KIDNEY TRANSPLANT, AND WITHOUT
OBAMACARE WOULD BE DENIED BY HEALTH INSURANCE COMPANIES,
RIGHT?
THAT'S JUST ONE EXAMPLE.
AND THE ARGUMENT AGAINST
OBAMACARE THE PEOPLE CONSTANTLY GO TO IS, WELL, THE PREMIUMS ARE
TOO HIGH.
WHICH I AGREE, THEY ARE HIGH, AND THEY DID INCREASE
THROUGHOUT OBAMACARE.
BUT THEY WERE INCREASING ALREADY.
SO YOU
DO AWAY WITH OBAMACARE, WHO KNOWS WHAT THE PREMIUMS WILL
LOOK LIKE?
WE MIGHT SOON KNOW.
AND PENCE VOTED AGAINST THE PROGRAM HE
WOULD LATER USE TO HELP PEOPLE OUT, AND WE WILL FIND OUT.
BECAUSE THEY SAY THEY WANT TO REPEAL IT, THEY SAY THEY WANT TO
DO IT THIS YEAR, AND WE KNOW ALMOST NOTHING ABOUT WHAT
THE REPLACEMENT PROGRAMS WOULD LOOK LIKE.
TO BE FAIR, THEY DON'T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT IT.
THEY DON'T APPEAR TO KNOW.
AND LOOK, THESE SORTS OF PROGRAMS --
SOMEONE WHO IS LIVING IN SCOTT COUNTY, INDIANA, THEY GO AND GET
HELP THROUGH HIP 2.0, AND FOR MOST PEOPLE THEY WOULD NEVER
CONNECT THAT WITH "OBAMACARE."
THIS IS A STATE PROGRAM, I LOVE
IT, PENCE SET THAT UP -- BUT THAT PROGRAM AND HUNDREDS OF
OTHERS COULD GO AWAY, AND THE PEOPLE WHO ARE GOING TO BE HURT
BY THAT DON'T JUST LIVE IN SAN FRANCISCO, THEY DON'T JUST LIVE
IN PORTLAND AND RHODE ISLAND, THEY LIVE IN THE MOST HARD-HIT
ECONOMICALLY AREAS OF THIS COUNTRY.
WE ARE TALKING ABOUT
INDIANA AND OTHER RURAL PARTS OF THE COUNTRY WHO ARE GOING TO
LOSE OUT ON PROGRAMS THAT THEY'VE NOW BECOME ACCUSTOMED
TO, AND THEY DON'T EVEN KNOW THAT THE PEOPLE THEY VOTED FOR
ARE WORKING EVERY DAY TO MAKE THAT HAPPEN.
AND THE SUFFERING
WILL COME, AND HOPEFULLY THERE WILL STILL BE ENOUGH LINGERING
TRUST IN THE MEDIA THAT WHEN THEY FIND OUT THAT IT WAS THEIR
OWN POLITICIANS WHO TOOK AWAY THAT COVERAGE, WHO TOOK AWAY
THOSE BENEFITS, HOPEFULLY THERE WILL BE A MOMENT OF
REALIZATION THAT THEY'VE GONE DOWN A TERRIBLE PATH AND
THAT PERHAPS THERE IS STILL TIME TO GO IN A DIFFERENT DIRECTION.
I JUST WANT TO ADD ONE FINAL THING TO THIS STORY, ONE FINAL
COMMENT -- I AM HAPPY WITH HOW THE STATE DEALT WITH THIS ISSUE,
ESPECIALLY BECAUSE WE SEE DRUG ABUSE BECOMING MORE OF A PROBLEM
THROUGHOUT THE COUNTRY.
HEROIN ADDICTION IS A HUGE PROBLEM IN
THE U.S. RIGHT NOW.
HOWEVER, I DO FIND IT FASCINATING THAT FOR
THE FIRST TIME IN A VERY LONG TIME IN THE U.S. WE TREAT DRUG
ADDICTION THE WAY IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN TREATED FOR A LONG TIME.
WE
HELP THOSE WHO ARE DEDUCTED TO HEROIN, IN THE MAJORITY OF
CASES, THERE SEEMS TO BE A LOT OF EMPATHY TOWARD THESE PEOPLE,
AND I THINK THE REASON WHY WE ARE SEEING THAT EMPATHY IS
BECAUSE OF THE DEMOGRAPHIC THAT IT'S IMPACTING, AND ITS WHITE
INDIVIDUALS, RIGHT?
FOR A LONG TIME THE PROPAGANDA HAS
INDICATED THAT, OH, IT'S MINORITIES AND IMMIGRANTS
BRINGING DRUGS AND CRIME, BUT YOU LOOK AT THE NUMBERS WHEN IT
COMES TO HEROIN ADDICTION AND IT DISPROPORTIONATELY IMPACTS WHITE
COMMUNITY THROUGHOUT THE COUNTRY.
AND NOW ALL OF A SUDDEN
EVEN THE MOST CONSERVATIVE POLITICIANS WANT TO DO SOMETHING
POSITIVE TO ACTUALLY HELP THEM AS OPPOSED TO CRIMINALIZE THEM.
AGAIN, THAT IS THE RIGHT WAY TO HANDLE IT, I'M GLAD THEY ARE
HANDLING IT THAT WAY, BUT UNDERSTAND THAT THERE HAS BEEN A
DOUBLE STANDARD IN THE WAY MINORITIES AND WHITE PEOPLE HAVE
BEEN TREATED WHEN IT COMES TO ADDICTION.

That Time Mike Pence Used Obamacare

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