Saturday, June 18, 2016

Rhoades' sad Health Care Legacy for BadgerCare Recipients.

I have always had a hard time praising people who found it easy to turned a cold shoulder to those who needed life saving health care but couldn't afford it. This is one of those times.
State Department of Health Services Secretary Kitty Rhoades died Saturday after falling ill the past week. She was 65. "Kitty’s dedication and service to the state have changed Wisconsin for the better, and she leaves behind a long list of accomplishments as her legacy," Walker in a statement.
It's true Rhoades did a lot to increase care for Alzheimer's and dementia patients statewide. But when it came to everyone else, those who couldn't afford health care, not so much. Here's a Rhoades moment to look back on, from Upfront with Mike Gousha:
Gousha: "There are going to be people who will say, yea, but this painful for a family of four, if you're making $31,000 a year, maybe an extra $1,000, ah, wouldn't you agree, those are painful decisions that families have to make about where they spend their money, given the new reality..."
Rhoades: "...Sure it always does, but when I was a kid, my parents budgeted by the envelope system. You cashed your paycheck, you put how much was due for the mortgage...you know when you then had to make discretionary decisions, you went to the entertainment envelope first."
Yea, fewer supposed vacations for the poor. How many BadgerCare recipients have anything like an "entertainment envelope" to pay their health care bill? Rhoades, a former Republican representative, thinks they do:



As a representative, Rhoades had little respect or sympathy for the poor and unemployed during the Great Recession...what a time to attack:
Here’s Rep. Kitty Rhoades (R-Hudson), co-chair of the Legislature's Joint Finance Committee, with her mean spirited attack on the needy, suggesting the state withhold food stamps until the unemployed get job training in a jobless market.
"Especially in a down economy, we want to be creating jobs and putting people to work, not re-creating welfare,' Rhoades said."

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