The May 1 article on the expansion of Medicaid quotes state Sen. Eric Brakey, who calls it “a huge expansion of welfare without funding, … a far-left proposal …”

As one of Brakey’s constituents, I offer the following:

• Health care is not welfare. It is what civilized countries provide for residents. Is Medicare, with public funds likewise subsidizing health care access, “welfare” too?

• This “far-left proposal” was solidly approved in a state-wide referendum.

• Need additional funding for this Medicaid obligation? Consider the tax breaks given to the rich and big corporations in the “tax reform” and those sweetheart breaks in Maine. See “red ink,” below.

• American health care is wildly more expensive than other first-world countries, largely because it is held captive by big pharma, big insurance and legislators like Brakey, who resist any form of health care not controlled by corporate profits.

• Think Medicaid for low-income Mainers would cost too much? Perhaps Brakey has forgotten the $400 million payment the governor authorized to cover hospital red ink, created largely by patients without health insurance. In the oldest and one of the poorest states, thinking hospital red ink will disappear is budget fantasy. Every health care study shows that providing health insurance is far cheaper than not providing it, as those without it defer normal care until they end up in the ER and ICU — at huge expense to the rest of the public.

• Need moral arguments for Medicaid? Re-read the Golden Rule or the Parable of the Good Samaritan.

William Hiss, Minot