I never thought that I would be applauding Governors Scott of Florida and Brewer of Arizona for making a decision contrary to Tea Party orthodoxy. After considering the benefits of the expanded Medicaid offered by the Affordable Care Act, they decided to endorse the plan and accept the significant funding from Washington. States that expand Medicaid per the plan will benefit from better health care for the poor as well as an infusion of major federal dollars that ramp up the state’s economy.

Unfortunately our governor, looking to burnish her conservative image and credentials, has refused to accept expanded funding of Medicaid for South Carolina’s poor. The net effect will be that our citizens’ poor health care will continue and federal tax dollars paid by South Carolinians will not return to our state but help fund expanded health care in the many states that are joining the program.

Do you like your tax dollars going to aid the poor in New York, Florida, Michigan, California and a host of red and blue states? Meanwhile our poor have to go to the emergency room for needed health care? This results in a significant increase in costs the next time you enter one of our state’s hospitals.

I will keep this in mind, Gov. Haley, when I write my check to the IRS this April as well as when I vote in 2014.

Edmund J. FitzGerald

Rock Hill