FROM SOUTH CAROLINA TAXPAYERS: TO KENTUCKY WITH LOVE!

Governor Haley loves---perhaps a tad too much---to play the part of the stud female governor wagging her finger in the face of Uncle Sam and telling his minions in the federal government what she will do and what she won't do.

[Excepting, of course, occasions such as the one when, on bended knee and in full humility-mode, she begged the feds for a $53 million bailout when her DOT wrote a series of bad checks!]

She particularly enjoys engaging her tough-guy riff when she gets an opportunity to talk about her rejection of the ACA-related Medicaid expansion---a program which would have made affordable, credible healthcare available to thousands of citizens in a state which consistently ranks in the lower 10% of states per indicators of personal well-being.  Indeed, she never misses the chance to talk about her refusal to "put South Carolina taxpayers on the hook" for the growing number of Medicaid patients that would accompany such an expansion. Wrapping herself in the Gadsden Flag, she grandly proclaims---to shrieks, cries and Rebel yells---that South Carolina will deal with it "The South Carolina Way."

If past results are indicative of "dealing with it 'The South Carolina Way,'" perhaps it's time to either admit we've lost our way or at least try to find a new one. 

Of course, there are two things that Governor Haley fails to tell the taxpayers of South Carolina when she does her studly thing per the Medicaid expansion: 

(1) While she left them off the hook for credible healthcare insurance for those fellow-citizens who would have been Medicaid-eligible, she left them on the hook for the unpaid-for medical bills that would have been/could have been/should have been paid for by the Medicaid expansion. 

Here is an easy way to frame it: Instead of Medicaid paying lower costs for the medical bills of the uninsured, South Carolina taxpayers will be paying higher costs for them.

(2) Governor Haley also fails to tell the taxpayers of South Carolina that, though they are not subsidizing healthcare for the Medicaid-expansion benefit-eligible citizens of their own state, they are subsizidizing healthcare for the Medicaid-expansion benefit-eligible taxpayers of other states---such as, say, Kentucky.

The money made available for the Medicaid expansion that was refused by our AR-15 totin' governor did not just go back into federal coffers to be used for something else. Other states, having approved the Medicaid expansion, were standing in line to take it and thank Palmetto State taxpayers for their graciousness.

So, hey, Kentucky!  These billions of dollars which will help provide healthcare for the poorest of your poor are a gift from South Carolina taxpayers.  Yeah, we know it's kind of stupid for us to ignore the healthcare needs of the poorest of our own poor in order to help you out with yours, but that's "The South Carolina Way!"