Ohio Governor John Kasich is in deep trouble with the Obamacare jihadists over his sensible decision to expand Medicare in Ohio, so he's jumping into the right wing echo chamber to add his two cents to the "trash the Affordable Care Act" litany.

On Meet the Press Governor Kasich spent far too much of the viewers' precious time talking himself in circles in order to pretend like he knew what he was talking about.

On the one hand, he wants to be sure the poor, veterans and mentally ill have access to health care, which is why he expanded Medicaid. Because, in his words, "he won't let them suffer on his watch."

On the other hand, it appears the rest of us can die, and die quickly. If you're not among those who are in Kasich's preferred circle of Those Most Needy, then Obamacare is a terrible, awful thing and it will not do one blessed thing to bring down health care costs.

He goes on to talk about Ohio's method of containing costs, which is to place Medicaid recipients into Managed Care programs. Here's a big red news flash for Governor Kasich: Managed Care Programs, Accountable Care Programs and other integrated methods for health care delivery are all part of the Affordable Care Act. In fact, states and other groups get government subsidies for creative approaches to health care delivery and containment under the ACA. Oops. Guess he missed that part of the law.

I guess I have to repeat myself over and over again to counter the weight of dishonest thinking rolling across our airwaves. It's bad for health care costs when a huge group of Americans are shut out of the system or face losing everything they have if they get sick.

There was a time here in California when car insurance rates were out of control and unaffordable even to people who were working for a living. Then Californians passed a law requiring everyone to have insurance and verify their insurance when they register their cars or renew their drivers' licenses. Not having insurance carries a huge fine now. The insurance companies kicked and screamed and shook their fists and promised they would be raising the rates higher and higher, but over a fairly short time frame -- about five years -- rates dropped by 50 percent, and so did costs because insurers found out they could still make money without gouging people.

The same will be true here. An ounce of prevention and all that. A dollar spent now saves ten later on, Governor. For a conservative dude, you sure seem to have trouble with that concept.