The Alabama Hospital Association commissioned a “study” last year claiming that 30,700 jobs would be created in Alabama if Gov. Bentley would just relent and agree to expand Medicaid under ObamaCare. Gov. Bentley, realizing that the Association’s member organizations stand to gain financially more than anyone from the expansion of Medicaid, astutely called the study “bogus.”
“The jobs are already there,” Bentley said. “You’re not creating new jobs. You’re not creating new people by bringing this money in. You have the doctors are already there. The nurses are already there. You don’t produce a new doctor in a year. I went to school 24 years to become a doctor. You don’t produce these type people immediately.”
That hasn’t stopped the mainstream Alabama media — who ideologically support Medicaid expansion — or others who stand to gain from the expansion from continuing to cite the study ad nauseam over the last several months.
RELATED: Hold the line on Medicaid expansion, Gov. Bentley, we’ve got your back
And they’re back at it again today. AL.com posted, without critique, a survey commissioned by UAB — which also stands to gain a significantly from Medicaid expansion — that says… wait for it… Alabamians REALLY want to expand Medicaid!
That’s right, Alabamians absolutely love the idea of piling more people onto the government’s healthcare rolls.
According to the survey, a small majority of Alabamians oppose ObamaCare (53%), but a whopping 63% said Alabama should expand Medicaid under the president’s healthcare law.
A “diverse sample” of Alabamians were polled in October of last year, according to UAB’s Lister Hill Center for Health Policy.
But CNN, hardly a bastion of conservative ideology, polled over that same time frame and found 56% of Americans disapproving of the Affordable Care Act nationally.
So you’re telling me that Alabama is more supportive of ObamaCare than the rest of the country?
The UAB analysis of their survey also noted that “Affordability of health insurance seems to be the key to the law’s success.”
Remember, this survey was in the field before Alabamians all over the state got letters informing them that their health insurance premiums were going through the roof — if they were going to be able to keep their current health insurance plan at all. So by UAB’s own logic, the law as a whole is undoubtedly even more loathed around the state today than it was in Oct. of last year when they polled it.
As a matter of fact, CNN polled again in December and found 62% of Americans disapproving of ObamaCare, up six points from October.
In short, just like the “study” last year, this “survey” is bogus.
The coalition of organizations who stand to gain financially from the expansion of Medicaid and their ideological supporters are waging a well-financed, organized public relations campaign to pressure Gov. Bentley to cave and expand Medicaid under ObamaCare. And the state media are going right along with it.
As I said in November, hold the line, Governor Bentley. Conservatives are behind you.
Follow Cliff on Twitter @Cliff_Sims
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