Brad DeLong reveals just why southern Republicans don’t like Obamacare:
ATDAS: “You don’t understand the Republicans we have in the South, and in Texas. You know of Northeastern and Left Coast Republicans. Even Midwestern Republicans–especially Bob Dole–actually think that sick and disabled people, even if they are poor, should be able to get the health care that is good for them, without having to beg. That’s not the case with Republicans down in Texas. Republicans in Texas think that if you can’t pay the doctor out of what is in your pocket and from the insurance policy you bought, then you need to go beg at your church. And only after you have begged at your church, and begged sincerely and abjectly enough, might your church find itself paying for you out of Christian charity–the benefit of which is to save their souls, not your body!”
Me: But…
ATDAS: “They don’t like Medicaid. They don’t like Medicaid because it short-circuits this process. You get treated but you don’t have to beg for it. The only reason they vote for Medicaid–and Texas only votes for grinchy Medicaid–is that the rich doctors of Dallas and Houston who contribute so much to the Republican Party think that Medicaid means that they don’t have to dig into the pockets of their practices to support charity care.”
That’s the hidden not so secret behind the Republican/Teaparty hatred of Obamacare (and any other healthcare and social security programmes): they empower people, make them less dependent on their employers or churches for handouts, their betters losing the leverage they have over them. Any form of social security directly threatens the power of the ruling classes, as they provide opportunities for people outside their control. They’d rather see people die unnecessarily than lose that control.
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