3 Oligarchs-Turned-GOP Governors Who Are Laying Ruin to Their States @alternet:
"If any state was justified in describing itself as a major Obamacare success story, it was Kentucky; that is, before Republican Matt Bevin was sworn in as governor. Kentucky, under Democratic Gov. Steve Beshear, was the home of Kynect, a state-operated Obamacare exchange that resulted in 500,000 Kentucky residents gaining health insurance, including many poor people with preexisting conditions. But Bevin, a rabid Tea Party ideologue who defeated Democrat Jack Conway in Kentucky’s gubernatorial race in 2015, campaigned on dismantling Kynect, and he has been making good on his promise, causing considerable misery to people like Louisville mother Emily Pickett (who, on February 29, found out Medicaid coverage for her two small children had been cut off). Bevin, according to Cara Stewart, a legal aid attorney with the Kentucky Equal Justice Center, has brought about a “dramatic reduction in accessibility” to health care in his state. But the suffering of America’s poor is not a concern to Bevin any more than it is to Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner or Florida Gov. Rick Scott. Bevin, Rauner and Scott epitomize a toxic breed of far-right Republican ideologues: greedy, enamored of corporate power and only too happy to attack the poor at every turn while their considerable fortunes continue to grow. Scott, Rauner and Bevin were all worth millions when they took office. But being ultra-rich was not enough for them; like true oligarchs, they craved more money and more power. And while Rauner and Scott’s states have suffered, their own bottom lines certainly haven’t."
