Hysterically exaggerating the cost of healthcare reform is one tactic, but presenting those costs in isolation is another—and perhaps more insidious—tactic. As these charts illustrate, austerity itself is a lie. We are not broke. We can pay for healthcare reform—and for teachers, police, firefighters, welfare, food stamps and any number of social services—if we go to where the money is.

What the false debate over the cost of Medicaid expansion obscures then is the real choice the GOP refusniks are making—to insure millions of Americans or to preserve tax cuts for the wealthy and cheer while those around us just die.