MOAR GUNZ!

The annual state-by-state health rankings are in from the United Health Foundation. NH is in 5^th place nationally when it comes to the overall health of its residents. This places NH in the middle of the top ten, which is surely nothing to sneer at. That’s the message in every NH mainstream media story about the health rankings thus far. What the NH media isn’t pointing out is that in 2012, NH was in third place. In 2011 we were in second place. Fifth place isn’t terrible, but to get there we had to drop two places, something that one might think is worthy of media mention.

That kind of slippage is the new normal in NH. Our health isn’t as good; our child poverty rate has risen at what should be considered an alarming pace. Our roads and bridges are in terrible condition, our state parks are in increasing disrepair, some of our highway rest stops are still closed, and our telecommunications infrastructure is an embarrassment. Poverty, hunger, and homelessness are on the rise. But hey, NH has some of the least restrictive gun laws in the nation and THAT, my friends, is what is really important. So important that at least a dozen gun bills have been filed for the 2014 legislative session.  Perhaps if we all go out and wave our guns at one of the hundreds of red listed bridges in our state, they will magically repair themselves.

NH has never been a forward thinking state, and now we’re sliding backward. Today’s NH GOP has been taken over by Tea Partiers and libertarians, who think MOAR GUNZ is the answer to everything. They hate planning of any sort, and are actively trying to prevent it on county and regional levels. The libertarians don’t believe in public anything, or that the state should be in charge of roads and bridges. The private sector would do a better job. The Free Staters have yet to volunteer to fix a bridge or repair a highway to show us how well this will work in the future, when they succeed in transforming us into Aynrandshire. Surely a network of differently maintained toll roads will be a real asset when one is attempting to attract business to the state.

Tourism is the #2 business in New Hampshire. Our Fish and Game Dept. is in trouble financially because of our regressive tax structure. Rather than address that, Republican Senator Bob Odell has filed a bill that would require canoe and kayak owners to pay an annual $10 fee for using their non-polluting vessels on our rivers and lakes. The best part of this (from a GOP standpoint) is that the bill (sponsored by a Republican) is being blamed on Democrats. This is right up there with last session’s bill sponsored by GOP Senator Nancy Stiles that would have forced senior citizens to buy a season’s pass each year to use our state parks. Currently, NH residents over the age of 65 are granted free access to state parks. This bill would have initiated a $20 fee for a senior citizen pass. Unfortunately, the NH GOP is far from being ashamed of the lengths that they will go to (gouging old people and canoe owners) to prevent NH’s 27,000 millionaires from paying their fair share of taxes.

NH Republicans made sure that there would be no state exchange system set up to handle the ACA. Now they complain about how things are working (or not working) without state exchanges. The states that created their own exchange networks early on are doing quite well with the ACA. NH Republicans also torpedoed the expansion of Medicaid that would have provided basic insurance coverage to some 50,000 low-wage workers in our state.  This is the kind of thinking that caused NH to drop to 5^th place nationally in terms of overall health. NH’s health ranking has always been a matter of pride for our state, and one that is used as an enticement for companies and families to move here. The Free Staters use it in their advertisements to entice more anarchists to move here to take over the state. Given how many states have embraced expanded Medicaid, it doesn’t take a genius to figure out that NH’s numbers will continue to be on a downward spiral while other states will see improved health numbers.

We don’t care about the health of our residents. (Though to be fair, Representatives Neal Kurk and Laurie Sanborn do worry about subsidizing health care for NH’s substantial population of low-income yacht dwellers.) We don’t care about the health of our highways, roads, dams, and bridges. We don’t care about the health of our telecommunications infrastructure. We have a long history of not caring about education. NH ranks a firm 50^th in the nation in state spending on our university system. What do we care about? Spending no money, and MOAR GUNZ!

Recent studies have also shown that NH is not bouncing back from the Great Recession as well or as quickly as our fellow New England states. We have no one but ourselves to blame. NH has failed to invest in the future for decades, and it’s begun to marginalize us and hurt our economy. Nothing short of a disaster is likely to turn that around. If one ever doubts the accuracy of the nickname “granite state” one has only to spend a Wednesday at the NH House of Representatives listening to floor speeches.

© sbruce 2013. Published as a bi-weekly column in the Conway Daily Sun newspaper. 

DIE POORS, Part 2

Appearing today in  Fosters is an opinion piece by GOP State Representatives Laurie Sanborn and Neal Kurk. It's titled: 

Expand Medicaid? Only if you want a state tax Increase

This tells you all you need to know about the level of concern these representatives have for the uninsured population of our state. Their quotes are in red. The opening lines:

Many people in New Hampshire believe that low-income New Hampshire adults should have health insurance. Some low-income adults have it now through their employers, but many do not.

Many people believe. Not these two! 

The sad reality is that, once New Hampshire expands Medicaid under Obamare, it will be politically impossible to stop it. Why? Because, for example, when costs inevitably rise, expansion supporters will successfully argue that the state cannot deprive 50-60,000 low-income individuals of their health insurance. 

Therefore the solution is to perpetuate the current level of deprivation! 

Are we discouraging people who are currently working part-time or in an entry level job from striving for full-time or a higher paying job, just to stay on taxpayer funded health care? 

Seriously? Do either of you two have a clue about the cost of living in this state, or the availability of jobs? Why not try talking to people outside of your sphere of glibertarian inanity? 

Is it fair to those who pay their full premiums, deductibles and co-pays to have fewer choices of hospitals and doctors than those who pay nothing for their health costs under Expanded Medicaid? 

LET THE POORS DIE! 

Is it fair that eligibility for expanded Medicaid is based on income only and not assets, so that a 50-year old who lives on a yacht and has a very low income qualifies for free health insurance?

I feel certain that the NH population of low income 50 year old yacht dwellers is roughly the same as the percentage of NH welfare recipients who drive Cadillacs.

Read the whole thing. Nowhere in this opinion piece will you find even the slightest expression of concern for the working poor in our state. 

What is Wrong With the NH Media: An Illustration

Big press conference today at the LOB, on the subject of medicaid expansion. Good speakers, good experts who gave  good answers to questions. Lots of media.

And what did the reporters from our major papers do the minute the press conference ended?

They raced over to Greg Moore of Americans for Prosperity. As you can see in the picture above, Moore is surrounded by Kevin Landrigan of the Nashua Telegraph, Garry Rayno of the Union Leader, and Norma Love of the AP.

Greg Moore is not an expert on health care or Medicaid. Greg Moore is a shill for a far rightwing group that claims tax free status so they don't have to disclose their donors. (Don't whinge about the IRS, APF. You slithered through - and the last thing you are is charitable. To anyone.)

Some of those donors are undoubtedly paying for Greg Moore's health insurance. During the last biennium his insurance was paid by NH taxpayers, while he worked for disgraced former speaker Bill O'Brien.

This is what is wrong with the NH media. A roomful of experts to talk to, but  they'll break their legs to interview a wingnut who has nothing but propaganda to offer.