We continue to allow the doctrine of the Confederacy — states’ rights — to divide us, even to the point of costing Americans their lives.
Charlene Dill, a resident of Florida, was a 32-year-old mother of three. She worked three jobs to try to support those children, despite having a serious heart condition. She earned too much ($11,000 a year) to be eligible for Medicaid under Florida law. She would have been able to get expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare.
But the conservative justices on the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that states have the right to refuse to expand Medicaid, even though the federal government will pay 100 percent of the costs for the first three years, and 90 percent thereafter. This states’ rights decision would cost Charlene Dill her life.
Every member of the Florida state legislature has health insurance. Yet, as zealous opponents of Obamacare, they voted not to expand Medicaid, turning their noses up on billions in federal support. That decision cost Charlene Dill her life.
According to a Harvard study, an estimated 8 million Americans will remain uninsured because of the decision of 25 states to refuse to expand Medicaid. They estimate that will result in about 7,000 deaths per year, or 19 a day.
The victims are working people, who earn too much to get Medicaid and too little to afford health insurance. Conservatives, one would think, would want to help those who get the early bus, who clean our streets, take care of our children, work the midnight shift. But they hate Obama far more than they care for low-wage workers.
Not surprisingly, the states that have refused to expand Medicaid include almost the entire South, the states of the former Confederacy, as well as the Republican bastions in the Midwest and West. These are among the poorest states in the union, with the most residents who have no health insurance, and the worst health care indices.
People of color – primarily African Americans and Latinos – are disproportionately the victims of this cruelty. That should not surprise. From John C. Calhoun’s South Carolina Ordinance of Nullification to secession, the Civil War to segregation, states’ rights has always been a doctrine wielded to oppress minorities, even at the cost of depriving poor working people of all races.
These governors and legislators assume that poor people do not register and do not vote (and they are passing laws to make it harder for them to do so). They assume that most Americans won’t care if thousands die needlessly. They assume that states’ rights can allow America to move from one nation to two nations, separate and unequal.
I believe we are a better country than that. Working and poor people have an insult level that is being violated. People of conscience will not turn their eyes forever. This is a moral disgrace that cannot be simply ignored.
