By Thomas Hartmann, LA Progressive

If you’re concerned about quality of life, education, living longer, and lower crime, move to a Blue state. If you want to carry a gun in public, earn crap wages, and don’t care about access to healthcare or your kid’s education, move to a Red state.

The only downside of the move-to-a-Blue-state strategy is that you’re going to be paying for the Red states, anyway. But, still, the quality of life difference is worth it.

Blue state taxes heavily subsidize Red states, a fact that’s been well known for decades. As an “AP Fact Check” laid out:

“Mississippi received $2.13 for every tax dollar the state sent to Washington in 2015, according to the Rockefeller study. West Virginia received $2.07, Kentucky got $1.90 and South Carolina got $1.71.

“Meanwhile, New Jersey received 74 cents in federal spending for tax every dollar the state sent to Washington. New York received 81 cents, Connecticut received 82 cents and Massachusetts received 83 cents.”

People in Blue states also live longer, in part because Blue states have expanded Medicaid to cover all their citizens while most Red states still refuse to do so.

“To date, 39 states (including DC) have adopted the Medicaid expansion,” notes KFF, “and 12 states have not adopted the expansion.”

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