Who are the 'meanies' among us?

Did you know that you have "mean-spirited motives" if you oppose the huge expansion of Kentucky's Medicaid program? Well, that's what the Louisville Courier-Journal editorial writer thinks, anyhow.

But isn't it more detrimental to the poor to add multitudes of middle-class Kentuckians who have told us that they would have purchased private insurance if they had not been made eligible for Medicaid and thus dilute the availability of care through the program that already is scarce for the poor and disabled?

Doctors and dentists have already quit accepting Medicaid patients in large numbers -- and that's before Gov. Steve Beshear, who's running out of time to find a meaningful and influential legacy, decided to bypass the legislature and add nearly 400,000 Kentuckians to the government dole.

How is it “mean-spirited” to propose ideas that would implement market-driven reforms such as emphasizing consumer-oriented plans that would keep health care costs down and encourage wiser uses of health-care resources -- while truly helping the needy among us?

If anyone’s “mean-spirited,” it’s those politicians and anonymous editorial writers who – simply for short-term political gain or , in the case of the writer, to mindlessly satisfy their editorial "base," which, in case you hadn't noticed, is shriveling up – lead the uninsured to believe that getting a Medicaid card will bring with it great care. Reports like this Bluegrass Institute analysis of the unsustainability of Kentucky’s current Medicaid program and the proven, common sense and free-market solutions that can both provide for the need and protect our individual liberties are worthy of your support. Please donate here.  Thank you for supporting the work of Kentucky’s first and only free market think tank.