You wouldn’t know Gov. Sam Brownback was addressing Kansans Tuesday night in his annual address.
He didn’t mention the budget and its projected $190 million shortfall for fiscal year 2017. Not a whisper of Osawatomie State Hospital and how it’s lost federal funding. Not a mumble about the state’s prison system and how it is understaffed and overcrowded. No wasted breathe on the Kansas Highway Patrol and its trooper shortage. Nor a word about expanding Medicaid and how it would help an additional 150,000 Kansans.
So what did he talk about? President Obama, Planned Parenthood and terrorism.
In Brownback’s estimation, state hospitals are facing financial peril because of the Affordable Care Act.
“It was Obamacare that cut Medicare reimbursements to rural hospitals,” Brownback said. “It was Obamacare that caused the problem. We should not expand Obamacare to solve the problem.”
That’s not being honest.
Yes, the ACA reduced Medicare reimbursements, but with the idea that those same funds would go toward the expansion of Medicaid.
So if Kansas were to expand Medicaid to help cover for the care of the indigent, the money is there. Brownback says no. So hospitals are stuck with paying for their care out of pocket. To date, that has cost state hospitals $920 million.
The takeaway? Brownback is not only against helping the poor, but also to the detriment of valuable institutions.
As for Planned Parenthood, Brownback says the state should eliminate any funds that go its way.
He’s referring to women on Medicaid who use Planned Parenthood primarily for birth control as well as screenings for cervical cancer, breast exams and STD testing and treatment.
Brownback is targeting Planned Parenthood because about 1 percent of its services include abortions.
By law, Kansas already prohibits any funding to go for abortions through Planned Parenthood.
Brownback knows this, of course.
The takeaway?
Unbelievably, Brownback wants to put family planning measures out of the reach of the poor.
For his third punch, Brownback said Kansans should be fearful of a president who wants to close the U.S. prison in Guantanamo Bay as well as accept refugees from war-torn Syria.
“I … stand at the ready to thwart every action the president takes to transfer terrorists to Kansas,” he said.
The takeaway? Brownback has resorted to fear mongering.
We have nothing to fear if such prisoners are transferred to Fort Leavenworth, a veritable steel fortress. And it’s a stain on our moral fabric to lump the refugees with terrorists.
WHAT WE DO have to fear is a governor who looks for scapegoats, instead of answers.
— Susan Lynn
