Supposedly Stalin said, " A single death is a tragedy; a million deaths is a statistic."

Today's statistic is 15,600 dead people since 2012 because Republicans in Red States have refused to expand Medicaid to cover low-wage working people, according to a new study quoting government statistics. Every one of those people who died prematurely and unnecessarily last year because of Republican greed and corruption had a family and people they knew, loved, and who now miss them.

Perhaps someone in your own extended family or circle of acquaintances has died because of Republican greed and corruption. Until America joins the rest of the developed world with a public national healthcare system, we can't claim to be a civilized nation. Instead, the GOP has caused us to be the heir to Stalin's cynicism.

-Thom