WASHINGTON – It might be considered unkind to describe Earl Landgrebe as a dolt lo these many years after his death but facts, as the old saying goes, is facts.
Landgrebe was an undistinguished Republican congressman from Indiana in the 1960s and ’70s who probably is best known for being the last lawmaker to express undying fealty to President Richard Nixon, standing up for the disgraced leader right up to the point where the old scoundrel submitted his resignation and stepped onto the Sikorsky helicopter that benevolently whisked him away.
Old Earl likely would be long forgotten now were it not for a famous, or infamous, line he muttered during the Watergate hearings. Confronted with damning evidence regarding Nixon’s involvement in the scandal, an exasperated Landgrebe said, “Don’t confuse me with the facts. I’ve got a closed mind.”
Which inevitably brings us to the four Republican candidates campaigning to become the next governor of our beloved commonwealth. All four – former Kentucky Supreme Court Justice Will T. Scott, Kentucky Agriculture Commissioner James Comer, one-time U.S. Senate candidate Matt Bevin and former Louisville Councilman Hal Heiner – not only oppose the Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare, but to a man they want to kill the fabulously successful Kynect program and rescind the expansion of Medicaid, which to date has resulted in providing medical care coverage to about 400,000 Kentuckians.
Shortsighted is the nicest way to describe the positions taken by the four gents. Obtuse is another. Insane comes closest to the mark.
This debate is particularly important in Kentucky. A legitimate argument can be made that the state is the unhealthiest spot in the United States. It is the North Korea of physical wellbeing. Kentucky ranks 50th in smoking, 40th in obesity, 43rd in sedentary lifestyles, 41st in diabetes, 50th in cancer deaths, 49th in cardiac heart disease, 43rd in high cholesterol and 48th in heart attacks.
Welcome to Pyongyang.
But the picture is improving. A Gallup poll determined that Kentucky’s rate of uninsured dropped more than that of any other state except Arkansas since the coverage provisions of Obamacare went into effect in January 2014.
Yet the four Republican candidates want to kill the whole shebang – the lone existing path to making Kentucky a healthier place to live.
The GOP contenders are playing a game, a dangerous game that can have a real and perilous impact on the commonwealth’s poor, sick and vulnerable. They are pressing their case while all the while, of course, insisting that they are the champions of the average Kentuckian.
It’s ludicrous, and killing Kynect and Medicaid expansion would provide a terrible disservice. What’s more, their opposition runs counter to the facts that establish Obamacare is not only a success but a raging success, one that has flourished beyond all expectations.
Listen to Scott, Comer, Bevin and Heiner and you will no doubt leave convinced that Obamacare is a tragedy, the biggest mistake since the war in Vietnam. Folks are unable to get insurance and, when they do, the price is exorbitant. The system is an outrage.
But what the argument does is ignore reality. Like Landgrebe, the GOP contenders have closed minds and don’t want to be confused by the facts.
Here are a few:
Despite warnings of failure, the percentage of uninsured Americans has tumbled from a high of 18 percent in late 2013 to 11.9 percent under Obamacare. That number is expected to plummet farther as a result of the enrollment period conducted during the current tax season. About 16.4 million Americans who wouldn’t have had coverage without the ACA are now covered. Another 9.5 million benefit from Medicaid expansion.
Insurance rates have not skyrocketed as opponents predicted. A survey conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation determined that most of those who forfeited policies that didn’t meet Obamacare standards in favor of those that do are paying less or the same. Kaiser found 46 percent are paying lower, 15 percent about the same and 39 percent higher.
Overall, premiums have been going up – but they’ve been increasing at a breakneck pace since at least 1999, according to Kaiser. Premium costs are not growing at an accelerated rate under Obamacare as many predicted.
Wait times to see a medical professional have not soared as more people obtain insurance. A majority of patients are able to get an appointment within two weeks or less, according to the Commonwealth Fund, a private foundation that promotes a high-performing health care system.
The claim that companies are only hiring part-time workers to avoid health insurance requirements is a myth. The employment picture is improving and Federal Reserve Economic Data shows that the ratio of full time jobs to part-time jobs is rising rather than falling. And 2014 was the best job creation year in the U.S. since 1999, despite warnings by House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, and others that Obamacare would be a job killer.
The promise to kill Kynect is particularly disturbing at this juncture. Kentucky is one of 13 states and the District of Columbia that manages its own exchange under the Affordable Care Act. The remaining 37 states operate under the federal exchange. The U.S. Supreme Court currently is considering, as a result of the manner in which the law was written, whether individuals who live in those 37 states are eligible for financial subsidies offered to those who can’t afford premiums.
Kentucky residents are safe – for the time being. But if the high court determines those living in the federal exchange states can’t receive financial assistance, and the commonwealth drops Kynect as the GOP candidates promise, thousands of Kentuckians will lose needed assistance.
And things only get worse if the state drops Medicaid expansion. Admittedly, Medicaid is an expensive proposition for Kentucky and every other state, even though the federal government picks up most of the tab. Former State Sen. Benny Ray Bailey, a Democrat from Hindman, a noted wit, raconteur and legislative magician, once complained that the state provided Medicaid with an unlimited budget “and they exceeded it.’’
Kentucky during FY 2014 spent about $1.9 billion on Medicaid – more than almost anything else in the state budget. Regardless, the federal government usually foots about 71 percent of Kentucky’s Medicaid bill. Under Obamacare, the feds are paying for all of the expansion costs for three years starting in 2014. Funding will gradually decrease to 90 percent in 2020. That should provide the state with plenty of time to determine how it’s going to pick up the outstanding bill.
What’s more, Obamacare already has provided the state with a windfall. Gov. Steve Beshear, who deserves a world of credit for his actions in this arena, issued a report in February establishing that Medicaid expansion will add almost $1 billion to Kentucky’s perennially drained coffers over the next seven years as a result of positive economic impacts like job creation.
And it’s time to drop the argument that Obamacare is the most unpopular thing since Ebola. The Kaiser Health Tracking Poll released this week shows that public opinion about the Affordable Care Act is almost evenly split with 43 percent expressing a favorable view and 42 percent reporting an unfavorable view. Support is trending in the law’s direction.
It was the English clergyman Matthew Henry, citing Jeremiah, who said there are “None so deaf as those that will not hear. None so blind as those that will not see.’’ It’s a campaign slogan all four GOP
candidates for governor can share.
By the way, their inspirational leader, Earl Landgrebe? He lost his re-election effort in 1974 and never held public office again.
Washington correspondent Bill Straub served 11 years as the Frankfort Bureau chief for The Kentucky Post. He also is the former White House/political correspondent for Scripps Howard News Service. He currently resides in Silver Spring, Maryland, and writes frequently about the federal government and politics. Email him at williamgstraub@gmail.com.