Well, here we are again with an update on a recent sojourn to the local hospital. I had started this article several weeks ago, but then all hell broke loose in Buffalo, Uvalde and Tulsa and my attention was drawn to the gun control issue. This was the focus of the previous article that I shared with you a week or so ago.
It was about a month ago that we went to the Emergency Room around 4:30 in the morning. After about a two hour wait, we were taken back to one of the curtained-off bays in the ER. I had been having excruciating pain in my lower left abdomen and after x-rays and further examination, it was determined that I had a kidney stone that was causing blockage into the kidneys. Emergency surgery was performed, and the surgeon put in a stent to bypass the blockage. The stone remained and was removed when I went back for additional surgery. This was the sixth time I had been hospitalized over about an 18-month period. I have been quite critical about my past experiences at the local hospital, but on this occasion, I cannot say enough about the care and attention that all the medical staff gave me. The ER physician continued to check on me, the nurses and technicians were very attentive and professional in their care, and I want to convey my appreciation. It is important to give credit where credit is due just as it is important to be critical when that is appropriate. Following the surgery, the pain abated, and I remained in the hospital for four days during which time the focus was on getting my blood numbers stabilized. I have been back home for several weeks and have been free of any pain or complications. I can only wish that my current condition will continue to be the norm.
Let me change my focus. It is my belief that the following case example is the epitome of self-serving hypocrisy by an individual immersed in faction of the political spectrum which has minimal regard for the needs of others. From 2011 until 2017, Robert Bentley was the governor of Alabama. Prior to Bentley assuming the governorship, the Affordable Care Act was passed and signed into law by President Obama in 2010. A primary component of this new law was the opportunity for states to expand Medicaid coverage to those who were not currently covered. Either these folks worked in a job that did not provide medical coverage or their salary was too high, thus making them ineligible for Medicaid coverage. The Federal match in the first few years following the new law, was 90-10 meaning that the Federal government would put up 90 percent of the cost and the respective state would be liable for 10 percent. In ensuing years that match would change with the states assuming more of the monetary responsibility. Even though the state must participate at a higher percentage, the revenues generated by the expansion would more than offset the increase for the state. By providing for coverage under Medicaid, eligible individuals would have more spendable income and would be paying more in taxes to the various branches of government. Similarly, the income generated to health care professionals would also be taxed and these dollars would contribute to the state’s overall revenues. In Alabama it was estimated that with the expansion of Medicaid, as provided for in the Affordable Care Act, 300,000 individuals would be covered.
Let me go back to Bentley in his role as the state’s governor. He was adamantly against the expansion of Medicaid throughout the time he served as the state’s governor. He claimed that the state could not afford to pick up the additional costs in ensuing years and refused to accept the facts that additional revenue would be coming to the state because of the expansion. As a result of his intransigence about expanding Medicaid coverage for more Alabama residents, the state remains as one of twelve states that have refused to expand Medicaid.
Bentley was forced to resign as governor in 2017, following legal issues that surfaced while he was governor, including having a questionable sexual relationship with a staff member. Following his removal from office, he returned to Tuscaloosa and resumed his Dermatologist medical practice. In a recent article that was published by AL.com, Bentley comes out in support of expanding Medicaid and, he argues, the failure to do so leaves a substantial number of Alabama residents without medical coverage. This is a bit hypocritical. While in a position, as governor, to promote expansion, he chose not to support the expansion. Now that he is back in private practice, he is taking the opposite position. Is he taking this “newfound” enlightened position because he could expand his own practice? That is a question that only he can answer.
Medicaid should be expanded. The arguments against doing so pale in comparison to the good that would come from expansion. There are too many individuals who are adversely impacted by the state’s failure to affirmatively act on expanding Medicaid. Indeed, even as Bentley has stated, there are many who do not have the coverage that they deserve. Will the state ever join the thirty-eight states and the District of Columbia that have expanded Medicaid coverage, or will they continue to be one of the twelve who have refused? The likelihood of effective change is, at best, remote and that is the tragic reality. The case example that featured Alabama, could be replicated in eleven other states and this perpetuates the tragedy of the “haves and the have-nots.”