Kirk, Rauner lower bar for cruel, heartless public servants

In a nation of many cruel, heartless public servants, we Illinoisans don't have to look far to find two of the worst: Senator Mark Kirk and GOP gubernatorial candidate Bruce Rauner. They combined forces Monday to blast the Affordable Care Act because it's extending Medicaid to the 400,000 Illinois residents too poor to qualify for ACA s...ubsidies to buy private health insurance but previously not eligible for Medicaid until Uncle Sam stepped in with ACA Medicaid expansion. This is double the number of sign ups expected. Gov. Quinn signed this Medicaid expansion last July, stating, "we believe access to quality health care is a fundamental right and we proudly embrace the Affordable Care Act.”

This Medicaid expansion, one of the key components of the ACA providing relief to tens of millions without health care, is a fabulous deal for the states. The Fed pays 100% of this expansion for the first three years and 90% thereafter. Twenty-four of the aforementioned cruel, heartless public servants, all red state governors, have turned down this expansion to score political points with the "destroy Obama" crowd on the backs, very lives in fact, of the medically uninsured. Yet, Kirk and Rauner rolled out their "Chicken Little The Sky Is Falling" routine whining that its terrible we let people get help to improve their lives, and possibly a full life, because Uncle Sam might someday decide they can no longer afford to pay their guaranteed 90% share and saddle the states with the expense. Kirk and Rauner tout it's better that life's health care losers suffer catastrophic health and death than take a chance Illinois will get sandbagged by the Fed five or ten years down the road.

Senator Kirk's opposition to Medicaid expansion is particularly offensive. Beneficiary of million dollar plus Congresscare insurance which saved his life and returned him to the Senate after a devastating stroke, Kirk has dedicated his remaining time in office to denying life saving health insurance to as many needy folks as possible. Last year he told CBS 60 Minutes that we just don't have the money to cover these folks while failing to acknowledge his endless support for trillion dollar criminal wars. Now he tag teams with Rauner to demonize Medicaid expansion just a day before the ACA's success was enshrined in our social fabric with 7.1 signups.

Billionaire Bruce Rauner, rich enough to set up an entire medical center for his extended family's needs, offered his typical double talk when it comes to the public welfare. While trashing Medicaid, he refused to commit to rolling back eligibility requirements in Illinois, saying more investigation of fraud needs to be conducted. This is typical Rauner duplicity, just like his boasting to GOP fat cats he'd roll Illinois' minimum wage back to the Federal level, then, when called out on his gaffe, saying he was actually for raising it....once all his conditions for economic improvement in Illinois were met.

Both Kirk and Rauner should get off the public stage. Kirk should spend the rest of his Senate tenure traveling to the 24 states to counsel the cruel Republican governors keeping 4.8 million folks off Medicaid which will result in over 15,000 needless health related deaths in the next year. And Rauner? He needs to realize Illinois is not ready for a governor rich enough to buy the Governor's Mansion, but utterly bankrupt when it comes to comprehending the real needs of the hard working folk who are the backbone of Illinois.