Support for Medicaid expansion

To the editor:

Hey, legislators, who do you work for? The people who elected you, or the party kingpins?

It is a very sad day when state legislators ignore the wishes of the majority of their constituents, and allow their party to tell them how and when to vote. In two polls taken recently, one of which was made by the Republican party, Alaskans have said they were in favor of Medicaid expansion. Testimony at the House Finance Committee hearing on April 11, ran 6 to 1 in favor of expansion. Despite this majority opinion, the Republican party is saying it will not allow a vote to come to the floor.

Citing a quote in the Anchorage Dispatch, the Republican majority leader said “We don’t want to put anything on the floor that the majority caucus does not support.”

So what they are saying is that they are taking a poll behind closed doors to determine if there are enough votes to take the measure to the floor. Just what does that mean? How do we, as the public, know what that vote is, how it was conducted and how our individual legislators voted?

Any action of that kind would be a secret vote. I thought this was a democracy. We pay the salaries of the legislators. We are entitled to an open vote. So, Kevin Meyer and company, stop the shenanigans and allow the bill to go to the floor.

Patricia Fisher

Meadow Lakes