Why I went to jail for justice (again)!

So why was I willing to go to jail? It's pretty simple. People are dying every day due to lack of healthcare. This isn't some out there and impossible problem that we have no hope of addressing. We aren't asking the governor to solve global warming or achieve world peace. We simply are demanding that he sign off on expanding Medicaid in Georgia which is covered by the federal government for a good number of years.

The expansion would provide 600,000 Georgians with medical insurance. As Rev Warnock previously said "Georgia has the fifth-highest number of uninsured people of any state in the union." Expanding medicaid would provide coverage to these people, give funding to rural hospitals in danger of closing and create up to 70,000 new jobs in this state.

How can we not afford that? How can we care so little about the thousands of Georgians in our more rural counties who are much more likely to live in poverty and rely on those rural hospitals that are closing?

How can we not help these people? This is putting partisan politics ahead of people's lives and it is disgusting. This is what I told the NEW YORK TIMES when I talked to them and amazingly they actually quoted me. Then someone in the comments accused me of being a teacher/carpetbagger from the Midwest.

This is a governor who not only refuses to expand Medicaid but helped write SB 990, the bill that gives the power to expand it to the state legislature, effectively killing the chances of the expansion happening even if Deal loses reelection. Beyond these egregious actions, he actually thinks the federal law requiring emergency rooms to care for sick patients even if they don't have insurance is too broad and should be much narrower. I can only assume Governor Deal would prefer poor people just die in the streets. Wonkette gives these comments the appropriate coverage they deserve.

Articles about the protest and arrests:

New York Times article

Rachel Maddow covers the protests. Oh look, there I am.

DailyKos where they use my NY Times quote.

Atlanta Progressive News article and the only press I've seen covering the fact that Misty was arrested for chanting expand medicaid on the second floor while other arrestees were being moved downstairs from the third floor.

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Arrests follow protests at state Capitol

11Alive: Vocal protests call for last-minute legislative action at Ga. Capitol

revolution-news.com

Macon.com: 39 arrested in Georgia Statehouse protests

SFGate AP article. Nice photo of us with the banner out.

CBS Atlanta: 39 arrested at Medicaid protest

ThinkProgress

Thirty-nine Moral Monday Georgia activists arrested in daylong Medicaid expansion protests at the Gold Dome