By Bud Kennedy
bud@star-telegram.com
Editor's note: The new federal healthcare law would extend Medicaid coverage for hospital care of state and county prisoners, but not for outpatient care. Medicaid would cover 90 percent of the estimated $75 million annual cost of the hospital care. The description and figure were incorrect in this report.
The shouts have only begun.
Expect four months of caterwauling through Election Day, often involving the words
sovereignty and
nullification and sometimes
secede.
A few less-Tea-steeped Texans will use softer words such as
repeal or
reject or
opt out.
Gov. Rick Perry and U.S. Senate candidate Ted Cruz already made the words
10th Amendment a political slogan.
But wait.
Is denouncing or even defying the new federal healthcare law really Texas' cheapest choice?
Of all the blog posts and blather Thursday on both sides of the Supreme Court case, one of the most incisive comments came from Austin criminal justice blogger Scott Henson.
On his legal blog, Grits for Breakfast, Henson points out that the list of Texans under 65 and eligible for new Medicaid coverage would include many state and county prisoners.
So the federal government would pick up 90 percent of state costs for inpatient prisoner hospital care, or county costs.
Obviously, that's not in line with the cuss-the-feds mindset of Tea Party campaigners.
Attorney General Greg Abbott, considered a contender to succeed Perry, said Thursday on the campaign trail that the healthcare law "cannot be tolerated."
U.S. Rep. Ron Paul, lionized by some grassroots Republicans, decried the "use of government force" to require health coverage and called for "protecting liberty."
According to
The Dallas Morning News, Cruz labeled the Supreme Court "shameful" and said he would "throw my body in front of a train" over the law. But that didn't upstage U.S. Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Tyler, who questioned whether Justice Elena Kagan "lied in order to get on the court" and predicted her impeachment.
I know. It's Texas.
But we'll have to pay federal taxes anyway.
There's a case for letting Medicaid cover the one-fourth of Texans who are uninsured and saving some state prison and county hospital healthcare dollars.
To Henson, it makes sense.
"We know Texas is facing a massive budget catastrophe," he said by phone.
Mostly that's because of rising Medicaid costs.
"But this is one way Medicaid helps solve a budget problem," he said.
I give him credit for thinking before shouting.
Bud Kennedy's column appears Sundays, Wednesdays and Fridays.817-390-7538Twitter @budkennedy
Looking for comments?
