Our Health Policy Matters

Will Weatherford is a political name to remember, no matter where you live. Weatherford is the Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives, a rising political star and a CPAC convention speaker this week, who “is widely regarded as a polished politician with excellent instincts,” according to the Tampa Bay Times . I’m not so sure about those instincts. In his opening speech of the new legislative session , Weatherford came out strongly in opposition to Medicaid expansion, saying it “crosses the line of the proper role of government.” He called Medicaid a “broken system.”   But Weatherford wasn’t content to leave it at that.  He invoked a moving, personal narrative to introduce his opposition to the Medicaid expansion. He told the tragic story of his young brother, who developed and died of cancer as an infant.  I can’t imagine what it was like for 15-year old Weatherford, his seven other siblings, or his parents to go through such a heart-...

Will Weatherford is a political name to remember, no matter where you live. Weatherford is the Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives, a rising political star and a CPAC convention speaker this week, who “is widely regarded as a polished politician with excellent instincts,” according to the Tampa Bay Times . I’m not so sure about those instincts. In his opening speech of the new legislative session , Weatherford came out strongly in opposition to Medicaid expansion, saying it “crosses the line of the proper role of government.” He called Medicaid a “broken system.”   But Weatherford wasn’t content to leave it at that.  He invoked a moving, personal narrative to introduce his opposition to the Medicaid expansion. He told the tragic story of his young brother, who developed and died of cancer as an infant.  I can’t imagine what it was like for 15-year old Weatherford, his seven other siblings, or his parents to go through such a heart-...