Dear Editor:

When a leader takes money from the poor (TANF) and uses nearly one million dollars to pay for fraudulent math to create a $400 million shortfall in Medicaid expansion (and does so after having deleted 70,000 working poor from MaineCare access) do we applaud them or scratch our heads and wonder what they’re thinking?

Ninety-eight medical business groups are in favor of the expansion — not only on life saving grounds, but on a sound business desire to not lose money from crisis surgery for people denied life savings medication. Does this mean that those working against expansion are against the business community? It sure seems like it.

Of course there are heart-felt consequences. I am only one person, but I know about two: one resulted in death, and the other resulted in catastrophic surgery. When you see a young working poor man who no longer receives his critical bi-polar medication, causing severe depression, take his own life, do you applaud the individuals who voted to deny him medication? Is that the society we have chosen?

Do we choose to let poor working people disappear, while costing businesses excessive amounts of money, or do we own up to the fact that a primary duty of elected representatives is to solve administrative problems? Are we choosing death over life? Right now 12 Republicans and the governor chose death over administrative solutions. Is the solution that we value life and work to limit the number of and cost of deaths? Or do we avert our eyes from working poor and continue to bless off shore tax havens, and tax breaks for the wealthy?

While I am pleased that the majority of Maine chose life over death, rational solutions over fraudulent math predictions, I regret the inadequacy of understanding and the cold self-serving demeaning attitudes towards those who work hard, are paid too little and who need medications by the very people who were elected to protect all citizens and solve problems.

Jarryl Larson
Edgecomb