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OBAMACARE

Six GOP Governors Opt for Obamacare Medicaid Expansion

Opposition to key part of Affordable Care Act seems to be eroding

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by Lisa Fine

Staff Writer t

Image: AP

A growing number of GOP governors are reversing course and opting to expand their state's Medicaid programs to cover more low income residents under President Obama's health care law.

Michigan's Rick Snyder last week became the sixth GOP governor to agree to Medicaid expansion. Republican governors from Ohio, Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, and North Dakota already are on board. Eleven Republican governors have rejected the idea, while a dozen others are still undecided.

The law was designed to extend health insurance coverage to more than 30 million Americans, including about 17 million under Medicaid, the health programs for the poor and disabled. But the Supreme Court ruled last summer that the states could decide whether to participate. This worried Obamacare supporters because it gave GOP governors the power to undermine the law by leaving large numbers of people uninsured, the Washington Post reports

The Medicaid expansion issue put Republican governors in a bind. They have to weigh the lure of billions of dollars in federal Medicaid funds and other economic incentives against the political consequences of supporting a law they opposed.

Under Obamacare, the federal government will pay states the full cost of expanding Medicaid coverage for the first three years. After that, the states would pay for 10 percent of the cost. In making their decisions of whether to expand Medicaid, some governors expressed concern that the federal government would not pay its share as promised, but the Obama administration has repeatedly pledged to fulfill the obligation.

The pressure isn't only from the Obama administration. Hospitals and other health providers in most states have lobbied governors to expand Medicaid because they could be disadvantaged without it. Obamacare reduced reimbursements to providers that treat lots of uninsured patients, shifting that support to funding to create millions of newly insured patients through Medicaid, the Post said.

Via the Washington Post
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Should governors decide to expand Medicaid in their states?

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Comments (view in Forum)

  • PoliticalSpice
    !
    anything that moves us closer to socailized medicine has my support. Those that don't like it can pay out of pocket, by supplemental insurance on the private market, or move elsewhere...
  • Vance1
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    usually only real social justice radical democrats want "Europe style" healthcare.
    Personally, I will always be against it.
    Medicare isnt good, and it actually pays for very little for seniors, and more and more hospitals arent taking it.
  • Thunderchicken
    !
    @Vance1

    I too am against European style medical care. Especially since my wife developed chronic vestibular neuritis. Because of that and the internet she has made contacts all over the world. We've come to the conclusion that she has gotten more thorough, better and faster care than most any of the people she's come into contact with.(Living near Washington University with their balance clinic probably has a lot to do with it though.)

    But I will disagree with you on Medicare. So far my 90yo father has had very good care using Medicare and a supplemental plan. I'm starting to handle his financial affairs and I'm very impressed.
  • Vance1
    !
    @Thunderchicken

    I agree, However without the supplemental. it wouldnt be so good.
    Just Medicare, pays for very little on its own.
    Most hospitals do not even except Just Medicare, if they did they would already be broke, because medicare reimbursments are indeed very poor.

    Take care, and God Bless you...... Vance
  • stepped_in_it
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    Republican governors AND republicans (as a whole) are good at "follow the money"... Crying "foul" about big government and then signing up for federal monies to support their states medicaid programs is about as 2 faced as a recent presidential hopeful!
  • FollowTheMoney
    !
    This is what career politicians do, it's what they are. Party affiliation has nothing to do with it. They're just different color chess pieces playing on the same board.
  • u
    CaryNickel
    !
    Until ObamaCare is reversed, or bankrupt, states might as well sign up so the Feds will pick up the tab. Why should states destroy their own budgets for an unconstitutional Federal edict? Put the burden on the Feds and break them. We already know that ObamaCare is going to be just another debt-ridden Federal boondoggle plagued by fiscal crisis after fiscal crisis, just like every other entitlement program. Let the socialist Democrats have their way, and make them own it when it fails.
  • u
    Meanie
    !
    It's simple for me, any program which isn't personally used by the political party and/or person themselves isn't worth the paper it's written on. Why do many voters not see this?
  • u
    commonsense51
    !
    Obamacare is an absolute tragedy. It will help bankrupt our nation and further create a welfare state where a Government that has bankrupted every program it ever touched will now bankrupt our healthcare.
  • PNWest
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    Creeeeeeaak..... That's the sound of the GOP folding again like a cheap lawn chair. An obstinate bunch but they are finally being forced to do what is right by their constituents.
  • Ashstop
    !
    Be nice to cover the whole story here, if states opt out then no federal help but the residents of that state still pay into tax fund, I say let Obama be burdened with the total payout, just more things he can't afford, the sooner we go bankrupt the sooner the liberals will wakeup and we can start acting like responsible adults!!!
  • DARSB
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    It will be interesting to see how the recalcitrant governors explain denying healthcare to their vulnerable constituents at reelection time.
  • Clara007
    !
    Obamacare is not socialize medicine. Private citizens purchase private health insurance from private companies. Hospitals and clinics are run for-profit by private companies. Doctors, nurses, and administrators are private citizens paid wages by a corporate entity. Citizens have access private health insurance and funds to pay for private health insurance from the free-market. Health care costs are lowered through more people paying into health insurance market system.
    Obamacare is the free-market, personal responsibility, remove the freeloaders plan for health care. Socialized medicine is the government assumes the costs of care for all citizens.
  • Phreakwars
    !
    If Obamacare is socialized medicine, why am I still paying Blue Cross? If Obamacare is socialized medicine, why would we see a mandate saying you must "BUY YOUR OWN" healthcare? Man the ignorance on the right just goes beyond logic and reason and straight to living in a bubble of propaganda. They keep repeating these talking points about "socialized government care". And this makes me think... are they REALLY so damn out of touch with reality that they call having to buy your own health insurance socialism? I just find it hard to believe that people are really that dumb... but evidently, they are!!!
  • u
    GedankPol
    !
    Medicaid is a sneaky little program that bestows benefits on you while you're living, and then falls on you like a hungry jackal when you die stripping your family of your assets to obtain repayment. Like someone else said: Be careful what you wish for. States/governors like New Mexico have to expand. 1 out of 3 of its residents are wholly dependent on the federal government for sustenance. That's why it votes Blue though its people are usually Red through and through. It's a matter of economics.
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