This is an opinion cartoon.
Kay Ivey’s heart is cold as the grave.
Alabama’s rural hospitals and working poor can go to hell on Kay Ivey’s watch. The ‘Grim Guvnah’ has no intention of expanding Medicaid. Because of stubborn politics, she would rather let decent people suffer than fix it with a single stroke of a pen.
Hell, the Grim Guvnah’s even trying to kill my AL.com colleague Kyle Whitmire’s hometown. That’s cold.
She can pull a billion bucks out of a hat for prisons, but not a dime to help poor folks in rural areas keep a local hospital alive. That’s just wrong.
Related: Ivey could save struggling rural Alabama hospital with ‘one stroke of her pen’, advocate says
Excerpts from my AL.com colleague Patrick Darrington’s story:
Following the recent closure of a rural hospital, health care advocates are renewing calls for Gov. Kay Ivey to expand Medicaid access in Alabama but the governor still says her worry is how to pay for the expansion long-term.
“Ensuring Alabamians all across the state have access to quality health care is important to the governor,” said Gina Maiola, Communications Director for the governor. “However, on the question of expanding Medicaid, she remains concerned for how the state would pay for it long-term.”
Related: Why is Medicaid expansion good for Alabama but bad for Kay Ivey?
Related: Medicaid expansion: Kay Ivey is still blind as a bat
The American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network of Alabama and Alabama Arise have called on Ivey to expand Medicaid access following the closure of Thomasville Regional Medical Center in Clarke County and worsening health care issues. Jane Adams, Government Relations Director for ACSCAN, said Ivey’s refusal to expand Medicaid would threaten more hospital closures and suffering for Alabamians especially in rural areas.
“Rural Alabamians who need immediate care will face potentially grave consequences of this predictable outcome. This is a result of the healthcare issues long present in Alabama, which Gov. Kay Ivey can easily change with one stroke of her pen. It is time for Gov. Ivey to allow Alabama to join 40 other states and enact Medicaid expansion,” Adams said in a statement.
Related: Thaw your frozen heart, Gov. Ivey. Expand Medicaid
Arise said “we are in a health care crisis,” while referencing the closure of four labor and delivery units in Alabama since last October.
AL.com reported that rural areas have been losing pediatricians and part of the problem is because of issues with Medicaid. Alabama Hospital Association officials said expanding Medicaid could help boost rural hospitals financially.
In an interview, Adams told AL.com that Ivey citing concern for long-term costs as the reason for not expanding Medicaid yet is a “lie.”
“That’s a lie,” Adams said.
“If we expanded Medicaid, we would get that equal amount of money just to invest into health insurance. There are plenty of ways to expand Medicaid and be fiscally responsible. 40 other states have figured it out, including Republican states…So, this lie of how we are going to pay for it long term is an excuse.”
Check out more cartoons and stuff by JD Crowe
JD Crowe is the cartoonist for Alabama Media Group and AL.com. He won the RFK Human Rights Award for Editorial Cartoons in 2020. In 2018, he was awarded the Rex Babin Memorial Award for local and state cartoons by the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists. Follow JD on Facebook, Twitter @Crowejam and Instagram @JDCrowepix. Give him a holler @jdcrowe@al.com.
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