Today I’d like to spend a few minutes trying to figure out why Ed Buttrey hates poor people.
While we’re trying to figure that out, let’s also discern why Ed Buttrey wants to increase the size of government and force Montana taxpayers to pay millions of dollars in extra state spending for the next two to three decades.
I think it’s clear he does hate poor people based upon his 45-page House Bill 658, and it’s clear he wants the state to waste millions in unnecessary spending.
Let’s explore.
It’s a good bet that under Buttrey’s plan, those on Obamacare in Montana would fall from 95,000 to around 64,000 or even as few as 47,000.
It’s clear that Buttrey’s plan will kick poor people off the healthcare rolls, and it’s clear that Buttrey knows this.
He doesn’t just know this will happen, he wants it to happen.
So where did Buttrey develop such levels of hate for his poor neighbors in Great Falls?
It’s hard to say.
Maybe it’s the Generation X mentality in him. He was born in 1965, after all, thus missing the Baby Boomer years by just one year.
His work experience could be another possibility. The guy’s got a BS in electrical engineering from MSU and he did work as an engineer for a time. In other jobs he’s served as a manager, operator, president, and owner.
Those are lofty positions, and he had a high perch to look down upon all the poor people around him.
His work experience cuts both ways, however. I know that Buttrey understands the lives of the less well-off, as he worked as an EMT for a time. Surely he saw how the other half lives while making emergency calls. But perhaps during that time he developed his dislike for the less well-off.
It kind of makes sense - he gets called to help poor people so much that he develops a rabid dislike for them, which could even have bordered on hate.
‘God...these damn poor people keep wasting the taxpayer’s money with these medical calls, calls I have to go on all the time! My life would be so much better off if these people would just die!’
Is that what happened to him during his EMT years...is that why he has such a dislike for the poor and the sick?
Could be.
It really is more than just hating poor people, though. Ed Buttrey also hates parents and he hates pregnant women.
We know this because of how he wrote his bill.
For instance, even in draconian Arkansas, they will allow parents of children to stay on Obamacare without work requirements.
Not in Montana. If you’re not working and you’re a parent, Ed Buttrey will only let you have healthcare if your kid is under the age of 7. If your child is seven years and one day, Ed Buttrey would just assume you die so well-off people like him don’t have to worry that some of their tax money could be used to help you when you're sick or hurt.
It’s the same with pregnant women.
In draconian Arkansas, if you’re pregnant you don’t have to work and you can still get your healthcare.
But here in Montana, Ed Buttrey hates pregnant women so much that he insists they work while pregnant if they want to keep their healthcare...unless they get a note from their doctor saying work could harm the pregnancy.
Mostly, Ed Buttrey wants Montana to become even more draconian than Arkansas.
Finally, perhaps it was his neighbors in Great Falls that really pushed Ed Buttrey over the edge when it comes to hating poor people.
We know that 16% of the people living in Great Falls are living in poverty, or about 9,600 people.
These are the people that Ed Buttrey hates. Honestly, I don’t think he would mind seeing them die. At least that way he knows they won’t cost well-off individuals like himself anymore tax money.
Ed Buttrey wants to do all of this so the state can save $625,000 a year.
So if effect, each of the 47,000 people we kick off the program will save the state $13.29 a year.
If we go with the larger cuts, then we’d lose 64,000 people. Each of those people would cost the state $9.76 a year.
Doesn’t seem like much, does it?
Really, the whole $625,000 in state savings doesn’t seem like that much.
It seems like an awful lot of poor Montanans will lose their healthcare - and their chance at staying alive - just so Ed Buttrey can save the state less than $1 million a year.
Remember, just last week I told you that the legislature is spending $200,000 this year so they can get better chairs to sit in.
I think that’s quite revealing - legislators would rather keep their own asses comfortable than help to keep their poor neighbors alive.
That’s sad, but it’s what we should expect from Republicans in Montana, especially the kind like Ed Buttrey.
It’s a shame that a Party that has so much potential to help hardworking Montanans instead chooses to hurt them so much.
It’s sad that so many Montanans that are poor vote for members of this Party, vote for men like Ed Buttrey.
And I have to point out how sad it is that the Party of less government actually wants to create an additional 84 state employee positions, which would be full-time and permanent.
If we assume each of those 84 positions is earning $30,000 a year, then the state would have to pay an extra $2.5 million in salary each year, plus probably another $1 million in payroll taxes and another good chunk of change for their state-provided healthcare.
So Ed Buttrey’s healthcare bill currently in the legislature not only has the chance of killing poor people, it actually increases the size of state government while putting taxpayers on the hook for millions of dollars in new government spending each year for decades.
Ed Buttrey isn't about saving the state money; he's about hurting poor people. That's his goal here. It's obvious when you follow the money.
Ed Buttrey’s program costs more than the program we have in place.
And some people in the state actually consider Buttrey a conservative.
Wow.
And here’s another humdinger - lots of Republicans in the legislature actually think Buttrey’s bill will save the state money.
Um...actually it costs the state money.
But most of the Republicans in the legislature are just like Ed Buttrey - they hate poor people.
To them, spending a few million extra in taxpayer money each year is worth seeing poor people die. Creating 84 new, full-time state positions is worth it if there are fewer poor Montanans for them to see when they’re out and about in their communities.
This is the Montana we want. This is the Montana we created.
