by Dennis Scharp
Re: Perry, think beyond West (Letter to the editor in the Dallas Morning News; 9 August).
This East Dallas resident, Kurt Wolfenbarger, opined that it was good news that the city of West was successful in getting FEMA disaster relief funds from the Federal Government. However, he then chided Governor Perry for not accepting the Federal “bribe” money associated with Obamacare.
How many others are there within the borders of Texas who do not understand the difference between disaster relief funding and “bribe” money from the Federal Government?
After reading Mr. Wofenbarger’s letter to the editor it raised the question: How many other Texans don’t know the difference between disaster relief funds from the Federal Government and out and out “bribe” money from the Federal Government and therefore in favor of accepting the federal dollars for the healthcare exchanges?
A quick search on GOOGLE would indicate that the answer is along party lines. When the Supreme Court ruled Obamacare constitutional in June of 2012 the Democrat legislators applauded the decision and the Republican legislators decried the decision. Fast forward to 1 July 2013, Headline item on KUHF FM: “Massive Effort Planned To Enroll 3.5 Million Uninsured Texans In Obamacare Health Plans”. Also on 9 July 2013 Forbs ran the following headline: “Rick Perry to 6.5 Million Texans with no healthcare-You’re on your own”.
A further review of the KUHF FM article reveled that getting the 3.5 million Texans to sign up: “But it could be a hard sell. Steven Vargas is a community health worker with the Association for the Advancement of Mexican Americans, in Houston’s East End.
“Now there’s going to be premiums and co-pays that go along with that too, and (we) know that that’s going to be a deterrent for some folks, thinking ‘I’ve never had to fork out any money before, I don’t intend to fork out any money.’ But we have to also make them aware that the cost is going to be subsidized, depending on your income.” And; Strangely enough, the poorest of the poor are not eligible for any subsidy. That’s because the poorest adults were supposed to get their insurance through Medicaid, but Texas officials decided not to offer that option, at least for now.”
I was not able to ascertain a definitive number of Texans who favor implementing Obamacare; however, if you accept that the majority of Texans are conservative and that the obamacare support falls along party lines it is safe to say there are far fewer Texans who support Obamacare than those who oppose it. Add to that number those identified above who will not qualify for the subsidy and those who very well may oppose it because of having to pay premiums heretofore they have not been subject to, the number opposing Obamacare becomes even greater.
