Oops, that's supposed to be a picture of Gov. Ducey. No matter, same-same.
One must ask: Does Arizona Governor Doug Ducey roll out of bed every morning wondering, "How can I harass, humiliate, stigmatize or otherwise fuck over poor people today?" It seems he must, because Ducey and his barely upright-walkin' toadies in the Arizona Republic Party, who control every branch of state government, spend a lot of time crafting policies to make poor people's lives even shittier. Immigration policy, education, childcare, welfare and healthcare—it's open season on programs that predominantly serve the poor and lower middle class.
Ducey et al don't seem that concerned about, say, school performance, because another new report gives Arizona a D+, ranking us 47th in about every important indicator, including the very bottom in spending. Nor do the knuckleheads seem worried about jobs and economic justice. Again, a recent report says Arizona trails most states in attracting quality jobs that constitute the new economy; boosters here hype job growth but 99 percent of it is in the service industry.
For a long time now the crackpot, bible-thumping bigots at the Capitol have been terrible at some very important stuff, like education, but when it comes to shaming and demonizing poor people, erecting barriers to hold them back, and making their lives more miserable, these bozos are laser-focused, creative and at the top of their game. Owned and operated by the chamber of commerce and other ALEC subsidiaries, this confederacy of weasily dickheads gets a gold medal in inventing ways to "incentivize" the poor to be "more responsible"—their Randian thinking being that people are poor because they're lazy, not because they work part-time and go to school or work a full-time job and make $16,000.
Modernize Schmodernize
So tomorrow I'm going to a public meeting to listen to Gov. Ducey's flacks explain their newest way to screw the poor. You gotta love it that they hold "public" meetings from 12:30 to 2:30 pm, and 3:00 to 5:00 pm, when most of the working poor are, hey wow, working! Whereas the tea party nitwits infesting our retirement communities have plenty of time to attend.
This meeting is about the Ducey administration's proposal to "modernize" Medicaid, a sick euphemism that means people who are already dirt poor will be required to: 1) pay up to 2 percent of their household income into a healthcare account, 2) fork over co-pays of up to 3 percent of income, and 3) prove you're looking for work or are in a job-training program. Also, Medicaid now has a five-year lifetime limit.
Every five years states can tinker with their Medicaid program by filing a request with the Feds, and Arizona's five years is up next September. This new proposal puts to rest any crazy notion that Governor Ducey might use the opportunity to ask permission to do more for people in need. How silly of me to even think it. So far the Feds have allowed states to collect co-pays, but they haven't approved a work requirement, and critics of Duceycare, like political consultant Robert Grossfeld, hope they don't:
"This is straight out of the ALEC playbook," he says, referencing the American Legislative Exchange Council, a right-wing nonprofit that drafts model state legislation. "It's pure Koch brothers, [and] it doesn't surprise me at all" to see it from this administration.
[Ed: It doesn't surprise him because Koch money supported Ducey's campaign, Koch still funds organizations that attack Ducey's opponents, and Ducey attended more than one of the brothers' fundraising circle jerks. We return to The Fountainhead ... ]
"The Ducey folks keep saying 'more self reliance, more responsibility,' and are just completely oblivious to what life is like for someone living on $16,000 a year . . . There's all this stuff [in this proposal] about getting people healthy while a great many of these people are being challenged just to find a place to sleep and get food—let alone make co-payments. To someone making $16,000 a year, this isn't necessarily helping them; this is just throwing up more barriers."
Poor Shaming
It's just more pissing on the poor. Point: Like other states competing for The Shit Stain of the Nation Award, Arizona tried drug testing welfare recipients—a popular rightwing electioneering meme. But like Florida and other places, after five years our piss test program saved zip and cost mucho. They nabbed three people over five years in Arizona, saving the state a whopping $3,500! At a cost of $2 million. Yeah, great fiscal management. But, hey, we inconvenienced and embarrassed a lot of poor people. Here, piss in this for food money.
Point, shit gets deeper: This May Arizona made national news of the cruel assortment again when Ducey & Co. set the welfare limit at one year. Most of the nation has a five-year cut-off, some states have two- or three-year limits, but no one has a one-year limit like Arizona's. We're Number One! So starting in September another 1,600 families with 2,700 children won't get that big $275 every month—not much, but for thousands it's the difference between Ramen noodles and going to bed hungry.
Point, and deeper: Obamacare! When the Supremes were still deciding what "state exchange" means, some elected officials, even Republicans, were worried about what might replace the ACA if the law were struck down. Well, Doug Ducey and the Arizona House and Senate were not worried, because they had already passed a bill that took care of the matter. QED. The law said if the ACA goes down, Arizona won't replace it with anything—nothing, zilch, nada, nichts, fuck no. The 154,000 or so people who signed up for Obamacare, and who would be without healthcare, Ducey called "collateral damage."
Now he's is at it again, with this cockamamie plan to further undermine healthcare for the poor. It's little more than an end-run around Obamacare and Gov. Brewer's somewhat surprising acceptance of the federal Medicaid expansion—an attempt to gut our once respected Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System (AHCCCS), which serves about 1.7 million low-income, disabled, and elderly patients, as well as children. Ducey's new scheme affects about 350,000 adults, those deemed able to work.
Some are working, shitty jobs, and many who are out of work have not chosen their lot, says healthcare provider Amy McMullen:
She says the modernization plan fits into the right-wing narrative that people are poor because of bad choices or laziness. "It's not going to make people go out and get work. People are just going to end up without healthcare." As far as she's concerned, this proposal is simply code for "let's blame the poor and make sure there's no way they're ever going to get out of poverty."
McMullen is concerned because she manages three free healthcare clinics, and since Arizona accepted the federal expansion the number of people using her services has declined.
However,
She expects that if this plan were to pass, her clinic would be overwhelmed by those who couldn't afford, or were no longer eligible for Medicaid and that her staff would once again have to start turning away clients because of capacity issues.
Why the heck aren't they "incentivizing" bankers to be more ethical, or corporations to be more socially conscious? Why aren't
they pissing into a cup? Their damage to the state far surpasses that of poor people trying to get by. And the pisser is, some of their legislative assaults on people end up
costing the state. Drug testing welfare recipients certainly did. Cutting welfare benefits to a year
might save the state a whopping $4 million, about 30 times less than a corporate tax break the legislature voted in. Nor will Ducey's new Medicaid requirements affect the budget: "The focus is not on saving money,"
said a spokesperson.
No, it's on being a dick, by nickel and diming those who can least afford it. Peckerheads.