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Should Texas Expand Medicaid in Line With The Affordable Care Act?
 
The Texas Medicaid expansion issue is so vital to us Texans, as well as us Texans who work in the health care sector, that we need to make ourselves heard (one way or the other) so our lawmakers know how we feel.
 
Below, are excepts I pulled from a website with some quotes from each side of the issue. Here is the link if you want to read more.
 
John Davidson, healthcare policy analyst at Center for Healthcare at the Texas Public Policy Foundation, a conservative thinktank.
 
"The important thing to keep in mind is that federal funding represents a short-term influx of funds to the state. There is no guarantee that the federal government will continue to uphold its end of the bargain in the long term. The law only requires 100 percent federal match until 2017, it drops don to 90 percent by 2020, and after that there's no statutory obligation for the federal government to maintain a 90 percent match rate. I think with what we've seen with the sequester, I think we should be really suspicious about making a really closed partnership with the federal government when it comes to Medicaid."
 
Does it make economic sense?
 
So how good or bad is the deal that the federal government is offering Texas? What will those billions of health care dollars do for the state’s economy? Can Texas afford this deal? Can Texas afford not to take the deal. Texas economist Ray Perryman says that when you take off the political goggles, Texas needs to consider expanding Medicaid.
 
Ray Perryman is president of The Perryman Group, an economic and financial analysis firm headquartered in Waco.
 
"It really comes out where there is a huge economic impact -- over 10 years about $250 billion -- but more importantly, from the states perspective, the state would actually make money. For every dollar of state revenue that is put into the plan, the state itself would get more than a dollar back. We've looked at the new proposals that are surfacing now in regard to the Arkansas plan and others and we're finding exactly the same thing."
 
To voice your opinion, find out who your State Representative and State Senator. Look up your district number at this link for your State Representative and State Senator.
 
Investing Lesson
 
When I first started investing back in 1998, I followed the Motley Fool’s advice and bought quite a few shares of Starbucks stock. I also bought a bunch of shares of Yahoo. At first, both stocks took off, and I thought I was so smart. Later, Starbucks continued to Soar but the dot com bubble busted and Yahoo sunk like a rock. I hung on to Yahoo until I lost about 60%, and then I sold it. But, my ego would not let me lose on paper so I also sold my Starbucks shares in order to not lose any money…which I did not. But I also made very little money.
 
Fast forward to today: Starbucks is up over 1000%, and Yahoo is still around where I sold it. Here is the lesson: had I not sold any stock, I would still have Yahoo and be sitting on a loss, but I would also have Starbucks and that money I lost on Yahoo would seem like a drop in the bucket after looking at my 1000% + gain on Starbucks.
 
As I was telling Susan this story the other day, she, of course, had to remind me that I told her all those years ago that Starbucks was a great stock and we should hold on to it for a long time. But no, I had to be so smart and not allow myself to lose money overall that I ended up calling my self dumb.
 
Moral of the story: Stocks are risky business and not everyone has the temperament for them. Will I ever sell another stock? Probably, but I sure hope I don’t sell because my ego is so fragile that I bail out for a bad reason.
 
I hope this true and painful story helps everyone. That is my goal.