Republicans Have No Problem Taking Health Insurance Away From You

When Republicans start screaming about hoe Obamacare is "taking people's insurance away" tell them about Arkansas, where Republicans are lining up to reverse the state's Medicaid expansion that they voted for last year, and now will take insurance coverage away from 85,000 people for the sole reason of they hate Barack Obama.

The revanchist Republicans are setting up their state, one of 25 to expand Medicaid this year under the health care reform law, to be the first to strip Obamacare coverage from people who already have it. Arkansas expanded the program, using a unique privatized model, under the tutelage of Democratic Gov. Mike Beebe and with the support of most GOP leaders in the legislature. But a cohort of conservative lawmakers believe they now have enough votes to block funding for the expansion during the legislative session that starts next week.

So the Tea Party is taking health insurance away from tens of thousands, all because they can't stand Barack Obama.  This seems pretty reasonable, right?

If that came to pass, more than 85,000 Arkansans who have signed up for coverage through the Medicaid expansion would presumably have that coverage stopped in 2015. Arkansas's alternative Medicaid plan uses Medicaid dollars to pay for low-income residents to purchase private coverage through HealthCare.gov. A select few, those making between 100 and 138 percent of the federal poverty level, would qualify for tax credits to purchase new coverage through HealthCare.gov. But the poorest of them, those below the poverty level, would be left without insurance.

But that doesn't matter to the Republicans in Arkansas or any other state for that matter.  Why?  It's okay to punish the poor in a red state.  It's their fault for being poor anyway.