The latest version of the Senate health care bill has a host of provisions designed to woo hesitant lawmakers — but perhaps none is more blatant than a change targeted at Alaska’s two GOP senators.
Both Sens. Dan Sullivan and Lisa Murkowski have not committed to supporting the proposal, and Murkowski has been one of the harshest critics of the bill’s closed-door drafting process.
Mich McConnell cannot afford to lose any more votes, so this is how desperate he has become:
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., apparently hopes to appeal to Murkowski by slipping in a provision that could allow her state to access more than $1 billion in federal money.
States with high premiums would receive access to a $182 billion fund designed to stabilize their insurance exchanges. One percent of that money would be earmarked specifically for states that have premiums more than 75 percent higher than the national average — and Alaska is the only state that would meet the standard.
This means the state could get more than $1.8 billion over the next decade. Alaska has some of the highest health care costs in the nation because of its remoteness and lack of medical facilities in many rural areas.
Sullivan said that the program, dubbed the “Kodiak Kickback” or “Polar Payoff” by pundits, would serve as a big boost for his state.
Dan Sullivan is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Koch brothers, so he will vote as they tell him to.
Murkowski on the other hand at least has some semblance of independence, though she will vote in what ever way will ensure her reelection.
So I guess as Alaskans we need to pressure her into doing the right thing, for all of her wrong reasons.
Personally as an Alaskan I do not want to be singled out so that we are protected from a policy that hurts millions of my fellow Americans. And I was raised to believe that Alaskans were kinder and more giving than those living in other parts of the United States.
That may not be as true anymore, but back in the day when all we had was each other to survive in one of the harshest climates on the planet, nobody sat in a broken down car on the side of the road for more than a few minutes without somebody stopping to help.
And nobody went hungry in the winter without the community coming together to help their family get enough to eat and warm clothes to wear.
THAT is who we used to be, and THAT is how many of us still would still like to see ourselves.
We cannot have while others have not.
So Lisa Murkowski needs to vote NO on this bill, and then needs to lead the GOP to work together with the Democrats to fix Obamacare and make it work better for ALL of us.
THAT is how she ensures her reelection.
Source http://ift.tt/2uluzYm
