ObamaScare is coming to Kentucky thanks to Karl Rove’s dark money. Karl Rove thinks Kentuckians will vote for Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY) only if they are terrified into it by fear-mongering about access to affordable health insurance.
Joe Sonka tweeted a heads up to the Oscare coming in the mail soon from Crossroads:
Karl Rove mailer going out in Kentucky (via @jsbuis) #kysen #ACA #unKynected pic.twitter.com/1RJ1EnWLKH
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— Joe Sonka (@joesonka) October 19, 2014
Sonka referenced a tweet from Republican Jeff Buis “Christian.Husband.Conservative.Old Guard Reagan Republican”, who proudly tweeted a Karl Rove flyer that’s totally going to change the race in Kentucky, because guess what is killing you all? Access to affordable healthcare!
Mailer from #CrossroadsGrassroots puts new light on @AlisonForKY @joearnoldreport @joesonka @Joe_Gerth pic.twitter.com/lPgHcahEs0
— Jeff Buis (@jsbuis) October 18, 2014
This it totally not coordinated with Mitch McConnell’s campaign, even though Open Secrets reports that Steven Law is the President of Karl Rove’s Super PAC American Crossroads and 501(c)(4) GPS . Law is the “former general counsel of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and chief of staff to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, is president of both groups.”
Totes legit. Nothing to see here. It’s just too bad McConnell’s Chief of Staff and President of Crossroads couldn’t think of anything nice to say about McConnell. If anyone would have access to McConnell’s alleged accomplishments, it would be Steven Law. But nope.
Of course, it’s tough to find something good to go on for McConnell, especially when it comes to healthcare. Mitch McConnell has pledged to get rid of Kynect’s services, like Medicaid expansion and access to affordable health insurance plans. He’s just going to keep the site up, for looks. Kynect will be an empty site, and you’ll have to go back to being uninsured. That’s not “threatening” at all.
Let’s look at how “threatening” Obamacare is for Kentucky, a state in which 15% of its citizens were uninsured prior to Obamacare:
Kentucky has more than 640,000 uninsured citizens, which is about 15 percent of the state’s population. Approximately 308,000 will qualify for Medicaid. The remaining 332,000 can choose among state-approved insurance plans, and can compare monthly premiums and other costs like co-pays. Thanks to new requirements through the Affordable Care Act, no one can be denied coverage for any reason, even pre-existing conditions.
Governor Beshear doesn’t agree with Karl Rove’s dark money, but then, Karl Rove’s dark money has an agenda to protect the too big to fail corporations whose agenda he serves.
Beshear says not only will Medicaid expansion help out but yes, jobs:
The expansion – made in accordance with the federal Affordable Care Act (ACA) – will help hundreds of thousands of Kentucky families, dramatically improve the state’s health, create nearly 17,000 new jobs and have a $15.6 billion positive economic impact on the state between its beginning in Fiscal Year 2014 and full implementation in Fiscal Year 2021
Since it is not 2021 yet, we can’t definitively say yes or no to this claim, though it’s been debunked many times and it’s disingenuous for sure. The CBO report does not actually say Obamacare will kill 2 million jobs, and actually the private sector job growth has continued its record streak under Obama – even after the implementation of Obamacare. The CBO report does suggest that people will choose to work a few less hours because they will be able to afford to work less. This is not exactly a scary proposition.
The voters will have to go on whether or not they want access to affordable health care insurance and whether they like the fact that Obamacare makes insurance companies pay for certain well care visits and preventive measures, as well as forcing insurance companies to up their game and live by the promises people pay them for. No more selling crap insurance and then ducking out when someone gets sick. Oh, so “threatening”.
What we can say for sure for Kentuckians, per an analysis done by Joe Sonka at Leo Weekly, is that Obamacare premiums for private coverage were slashed by 74% with federal subsidies for the 74% who qualified, and “tens of thousands of Kentuckians who purchased private health care coverage on Kynect, the new state health benefits exchange, are saving more than $200 each month on their insurance premiums through federal tax subsidies made possible by the Affordable Care Act.”
Much terror as families are getting good plans for $65 a month (SHUDDER), “Under the “silver” plan — the most popular among Kynect consumers — the average premium was reduced 79 percent to just over $65 per month.”
Oh, saving money is scary. Very “threatening”.
Yes, Kentuckians, that Kynect that you love so much so long as it’s not called Obamacare is indeed what Mitch McConnell’s buddy Karl Rove is trying to scare you with. You are supposed to be scared that you have health insurance.
Instead of being afraid, many Kentuckians who are living life based on the self-interest promoted by Republicans will wonder why Mitch McConnell wants to take away their Kynect. They might not like Obama, but they love their wallets and access to affordable healthcare MORE than they hate the fictional boogeyman sold to them by Republicans. This is just human nature. We put our own lives ahead of petty politics.
If there’s one thing Karl Rove knows how to do, it’s score one for the other side (see 2012). Well done, Steven Law and Karl Rove and Mitch McConnell. The lesson on how to waste millions of dollars while failing is almost complete.
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