Deal: Yes to a stadium, no to Medicaid

Gov. Nathan Deal wants us to help the Falcons build a shiney new Dome to replace the one they just built 20 years ago.  We can raise taxes for that.

And Gov. Deal says that the state cannot afford to accept the federal government's offer to provide 100% of the funds to expand Medicaid to cover 694,000 more Georgians.  He says we can't afford it (because after 3 years we would have to pay up to 10% of the cost, instead of 0%);  he says it will cost us $4.5 billion over the next 10 years.

Now a study commissioned by the Healthcare Georgia Foundation is reporting that the deal that Deal is refusing (on our behalf, I might add) is a good deal after all.   The provision of health care for 694,000 more Georgians would also create 70,000 new jobs in the health care field, which is projected to have an impact of $8 billion a year, leading to $276 million a year in new tax revenues for the state.

Gov. Deal had said we can't afford it.    Can we afford not to do it?   Some other Republican governors are changing their minds and accepting the offer:   Arizona's fiery conservative Jan Brewer, for one.

Come on, Nathan.   Don't be stubborn just because of politics.   You've lost on this one.

Ralph