By skyforbes 
Louisiana and Medicaid
Yeah, yeah, I know. Louisiana voted for Trump, “so fuck them”.
And I know Mike “The Magic Christian” Johnson was elected by the voters in one of Louisiana’s congressional districts, “so they’re getting what they deserve”.
That reasoning is as bad as MAGA-zombie think, refusing to recognize people’s suffering as a tragedy even if they did bring it on themselves.
And then there are my Louisiana friends who hate Trump, didn’t vote for Trump, turned up at the No Kings rally along with thousands of others, and have medical conditions that now might not be treated due to Trump’s trashing of Medicaid.
So fuck Trump and if you’re gloating at the pain being inflicted on Louisianians then fuck you too.
But to get back on track:
Louisiana has a MAGA governor and a massively MAGA state legislature. It also has a large African American and immigrant population as well as significantly blue urban areas like New Orleans where MAGA folk are as rare as vegetarian alligators.
The MAGA president of the state senate, Cameron Henry, has revealed that Trump’s Big Beautiful Butt Fuck is going to wreck Louisiana’s health care system, which already ain’t so great.
He says the BBBF will cost Louisiana 4 billion. That’s BILLION. Henry sees the cost “devastating local hospitals, rural hospitals and so forth.”
31% of Louisiana’s population is Black and about a third of the Black population is below the poverty line. And while People of Color have the highest poverty rates they aren’t alone in that trap because Louisiana is one of the poorest states in the nation. Still, with about 13% of the White population below the poverty line compared to 31% of Blacks you can see that it is People of Color who will be hit hardest by the cuts. That’s right, the people least likely to vote for Trump, so stop gloating,
According to a recent article in The Times Picayune almost two million people in the state are covered by Medicaid. That’s about 40% of the population. So if you actually care about people you see the problem.
The state has no money to make up the losses. And given the endemic racism expect what ever money they do have to go to health centers in white and republican areas.
How do Louisiana’s leaders think they’ll deal with the problem? According to Democrat Vanessa LaFleur “ We will be making cuts because we have to.”
Louisiana funds much of its rural health care with “ provider taxes” on more profitable hospitals. Under Trump’s BBBF the state will lose about half of that money, which will have to be made up by taxpayers in other ways.
But they don’t have the money.
According the the Times Picayune “…the state budgeted $245 million for rural hospitals in the next fiscal year. If the bill passes as the Senate recommends, that amount would immediately drop to $211 million and would be reduced every year until it reaches about $128 million annually.”
That’s a hell of a cut.
So expect to see more people, especially rural People of Color, to die from cancer, hypertension, diabetes, etc.
If you are going to celebrate that because Louisiana voted for Trump, then as far as I am concerned you are a fascist no matter where you fall on the political spectrum on other issues.
I know you’re not on the side of the poor.