from a 2011 protest... in another Medicaid battle...

Yes, it is happening. They are spewing the exact rhetoric you would predict about Medicaid block grants (see prior posts), and though governors are pushing back... I mean, governors? Sad. Losers.

Families USA has this factsheet regarding Medicaid block grants (h/t Doctors for America).

Kevin Drum at Mother Jones has a good explainer with graphics showing why pegging block grant increases to overall inflation is inevitably budget cutting.

In a related development, Medicaid block grants in Republican-dominated states will likely lead to privatization, which in Iowa has been a bad deal for providers of care, as explained in this STAT article.

And yes, Republican governors, not surprisingly, are continuing to sound the alarm, that umm, guys, that's a bunch of money you're about to take away from my state. Sadly, Governor Kasich may not wield awesome political influence in today's GOP. Because: Loser. Sad.

Investors get a warning that it's time to be bearish on any healthcare investments that involve poor people.

And for locals, here's an article on concerns of Massachusetts legislators--and how our rate of 97.2% residents being insured (this can be done! we have done it!) might be at risk, and what the state might do. Basic summary: we're not sure how we're gonna get damaged, and we're not sure how we're gonna fix it, but we're gonna get damaged, and we're gonna try to fix it.

Zooming out of Medicaid proper and into the ACA, here's why the "moderate Republican" alternative isn't viable.

And in the continuing Mu-Receptor Mixtape commitment to bring you health policy beatz, can there ever be too many Swedish-disco-house takes on "Fast Car"? Tobtok (featuring River) apparently feels the answer is no, and made a cyyyyyuuuuuute video to prove it. I have a weakness for this which can not be entirely justified aesthetically. (PS: Yes I know Jonas Blue did a prior Swedish-disco-house-style version. But the song isn't better and the video is literally just... the stupidest. I'm not even linking to it.)

Health policy verse is:

You see my old man's got a problem
He live with the bottle that's the way it is
He says his body's too old for working
His body's too young to look like his
My mama went off and left him
She wanted more from life than he could give
I said somebody's got to take care of him
So I quit school and that's what I did

Again emphasizing that the economic impact of untreated health problems extends far beyond those with the health problems. Right, Tracy Chapman? Holy crap, so many years later I still think this is a beautiful song, and children, this is the woman who actually wrote it, and the reason why even though I love that disco house music, I'm sort of ashamed to even like any of the multitude of remixed and redone versions, because: Tracy Chapman.