Rep. Marcus Brandon has filed legislation that would provide every North Carolinian with free healthcare for two years, after which the state would charge a small copay:
The idea stands no chance of passing the Republican-controlled General Assembly.
Brandon, D-Guilford, knows this.
He said he’s trying to make a point: If GOP legislators don’t like federal health care reform, fine. But now that it’s the law of the land, don’t break it apart without a backup plan.
…Brandon said he favors the single-payer system contemplated in his House Bill 70. It offers free, taxpayer-funded medical care to every North Carolinian for two years, then charges small co-pays and deductibles.
It’s not politically feasible, Brandon said, but it’s better than voting to “ruin” the medical industry “all because you don’t like Obama.”
It’s a little more complicated than that, and hopefully Rep. Brandon knows this. It’s about supposedly ‘free money’ that the federal government bestows upon state and local governments all the time. I keep waiting for for someone to stand up and say ‘hell no we don’t want it,’ and finally somebody has.
It’s also about whether or not the federal government will keep its promise of paying 90 percent of the cost of Medicaid expansion in perpetuity. I’m not the only one who’s skeptical.
