Sometimes, as I look at the legislative landscape of Delaware, I feel as though I’ve gone through the looking glass. Up is down, down is up. As long as the General Assembly is in session in Dover, things keep getting curiouser and curiouser.
Within a week of passing House Bill 350, the House Appropriations Committee discussed expanding Medicaid to include abortion services and provide healthcare coverage to those who entered our country illegally. In case you missed it, HB 350 is the bill that puts the state government in the C-suite of every hospital in Delaware and allows a politically appointed commission to override hospital boards of directors as they execute their fiduciary responsibilities. As an aside, despite the stated concern for the state’s budget, this new commission would add bureaucracy, costing close to an additional $700,000 per annum. At the same time lawmakers are panicking over the budget, they are adding more costs.
Also, after complaining that health insurance premiums for state employees and retirees are skyrocketing by 27%, our Democrat representatives on the House Appropriations Committee voted to eliminate co-pays for abortion services for state employees. They also expanded Medicaid to include abortion services. The Hyde Amendment, which restricts the use of federal funds for abortions, be damned! Sadly, this isn’t the first time Democrats have waded into unconstitutional territory.
So, HB 350 is now on its way to the Senate. Hopefully, the Democrats in that chamber will reject this contradiction in reason.
I’m totally perplexed, as I can’t understand how these conflicting initiatives make any basic economic sense. The truth is, they don’t. However, they make lots of political sense if you are using every possible incentive to consolidate a constituency that will not only keep you in power, but also decimate any opportunity for the other side to impact policy. The party in power uses our tax money to maintain this advantage, to the detriment of Delawareans. This situation also allows unconstitutional bills to make it over the finish line and become law. Only after they are challenged in court and the text of the constitution invoked does sanity reappear.
The Democratic Party has held the reins of the executive and legislative branches in the First State for decades. As with most things in life, more balance is needed when it comes to who controls the levers of power. Without more balance in Dover, Delaware is likely to continue its downward spiral, and we will all join Alice, the White Rabbit and the Mad Hatter in Wonderland.
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