One of the options of the Affordable Care Act was the option for states to expand their eligibility requirements to receive Medicaid coverage. This is essentially health insurance coverage for the indigent. The issue has been discussed by the North Carolina General Assembly for years, but it has continued to be rejected.

The expansion would add about 500,000 people to Medicaid coverage and bring in millions of federal dollars to pay for the coverage. North Carolina is one of only 12 states that have not taken advantage of the expanded coverage. Republicans have said that the feds could withdraw funds in the future, and thus the state would be liable to pay for that coverage. That hasn’t happened to date and no longer seems to be a viable excuse. Considering the billions in state surplus funds this year, this has been a more difficult argument for refusing to provide this coverage.

US Senator Chuck Schumer (D-New York)

This Inflation Reduction Act is literally a grab bag of every Democratic proposal for the past six months. It’s been haggled over, primarily among various factions within the Democratic Party. It was declared to be related to the budgeting process so it could pass with a simple majority. The process of “vote-a-rama” allowed amendments by both sides and ended only when they were both exhausted. That differs from a filibuster, where the opponents must maintain continuous control of the floor. That can only be ended with a 2-thirds majority (60) vote. After lengthy debate, the bill was passed by the Senate. It now goes back to the House for a conference vote to reconcile differences. A vote in the House is expected later this week.

Inflation Soars to Highest Rate

The headlines are full of stories about inflation, its causes, and what we can (or can’t) do about it. Sure, a mixture of the pandemic, supply chain failures, the Ukraine war, and the sanctions imposed on Russia contributed to the demand/supply imbalance. It started months ago with the logjam at the Port of Long Beach, expanded with the shortage of truck drivers, and then another wave of Covid-19 that shut down Chinese factories. To punish Russia, the US and the EU tried to cut off their oil and gas spigots. That hasn’t worked very well since they figured out how to game the system. The primary reaction was to drive up the international price of crude oil, and thereby the price of gasoline to 40-year records. Which brings us back to the OPEC crisis of the 70’s.