Ok, we are just going to make this one super quick. If you tuned in to the Governor’s Costco ad, I mean press conference, on Wednesday and managed to make it through the CEO of Costco’s talk (whyyyyyyyy) without turning it off, you may have noticed that someone finally asked the Governor about Medicaid expansion. Apologies, I was so excited that someone asked that I do not recall now who asked the question. Thank you, though! Anyway, Pete’s response was some word salad about how if he tried to expand it now it would only take longer because some paperwork needed to get shoved from his desk to someone else’s desk. Besides the fact that he has already had TWO YEARS to take care of this, he is literally the only Governor who has not yet managed to get it implemented in their state after it was adopted (and demanded) by the people. Even Arkansas has implemented Medicaid expansion. Like Nebraska, Arkansas wanted work requirements in place in order to expand Medicaid, but they lost that battle in court on March 27, 2019. Let’s take a look at some other states:
Idaho – took right around 90 days from adoption to implementation
Kentucky – also wanted a work requirement, which was also defeated in court. The expansion has been implemented without work requirements
Maine – took 13 months from adoption to implementation
Montana – 5 months from adoption to implementation
Virginia – expansion was implemented in just 30 days, but didn’t become effective until the new year, so 7 months total
You can find all this information as well as a helpful interactive map at this link. Most of the states that have implemented Medicaid expansion did so as of January 1, 2014. That is over six years that other states have been taking care of their citizens. What has Ricketts done since 2014?
- He has spent his dad’s money to buy the death penalty
- He has spent the taxpayer’s money on shadily-obtained death drugs
- He then used those shady death drugs in a botched execution
- He has used his office to push his personal religious agenda including trampling all over the rights of the LGBTQA+ community as well as the rights of those of us born with a uterus
- He hired an actual Nazi to run his re-election campaign as well as his anti-cannabis Reefer Madness-style disinformation campaign
- He has purchased his very own Unicameral and obstructed every piece of moderate legislation put in front of him
- He has used the Senators he bought to try to implement his very own billionaire welfare while trying to kill the public school system
I could go on literally all night but I’m tired of thinking about him today. Just read pretty much any article we have ever written and another nefarious deed will pop its nasty little bald head up. The point is, this guy doesn’t give a shit about you, he never gave a shit about you, and we are done listening to his excuses about why he can’t keep us safe and healthy. He will be live-streaming tomorrow night (Thursday the 26th) at 7:00 pm CST on NET Nebraska. Click here for information on how to submit questions and tune in. Give him hell, Nebraska.
