Senator Nelson’s Thirty Pieces of Silver

The outright bribe provided by Senator Reid to Senator Nelson is despicable and an outright insult to the other 49 states. Where is the outrage? Where is the shame?

We will have now two Medicaid health care systems in this country; one for Nebraska and one for the other 49 states. In other words, the American taxpayer will be paying tens of millions of dollars a year "FOREVER" in Medicaid funds for Nebraska.

Senator Nelson had complained that the proposed expansion of Medicaid to those earning below 133% of the Federal Poverty Line (FPL) would burden his state. (For those of you that might not be familiar with Medicaid, it is a program whose costs are split between the federal and state governments.) Indeed, this expansion in eligibility does raise costs dramatically for states. Unless that state is Nebraska, because we (taxpayers) will now pay 100% of its Medicaid costs (BRIBE), forever. Other states will be forced to either raise taxes or cut other services to accommodate the forced increase in Medicaid spending. Not, of course, Nebraska. Outrages and shameful!!