TO THE EDITOR:
Most of us conservatives strongly believe that we should get back from the U.S. government a fair share of the funds we send there. Also, most of us think it would be sheer nonsense to pay federal taxes into a program which would benefit poor North Carolinians who work in low paying jobs, but our state legislature and governor have said, “No, you poor folk can’t have it.”
Right here in the middle of the Bible Belt can you believe our state government has rejected something so badly needed by the working poor in our state, even though our taxes are already paying for it. I just read that rejection of the Affordable Care Act’s Extended Medicaid is costing North Carolina $4.9 million a day. Some of our small hospitals have closed and I’m told others will soon follow due to the financial impact of rejecting this program.
Now we learn that Thom Tillis, our Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate, takes pride in his role in persuading the state legislature and our governor to reject this program. This is the King Daddy of all bad public policy decision I know of. I believe that anyone with a modicum of economic sense and strong Christian values would agree, be they conservative Republicans or Democrats.
Half a million people could have health insurance and Tillis said “No”? If all of this is true, I wonder how anyone (Republican or Democrat) could support this candidate to be our U.S. Senator. North Carolina deserves better.
Charles J. Rogers
Morganton
