Why Governors Should Expand Medicaid
One of the ways that Obamacare seeks to extend health coverage to the more than 30 MILLION uninsured Americans is through a significant expansion of the Medicaid program, which is jointly funded and administered by the federal government and state governments. Under the law, the federal government will pick up 100 percent of the tab for the expansion for the first three years and no less than 90 percent in all subsequent years. Nearly 17 MILLION people were expected to gain coverage this way.
This is apparently such a good deal for the states that the Supreme Court ruled last year that it was “coercive” for the federal government to require states to accept the money to expand Medicaid or risk losing all of their Medicaid funding, so the expansion then became voluntary. Eight Republican governors including grassroots favorites like Govs. Jan Brewer (AZ) and Chris Christie (NJ) are bucking pressure from within their own party and want to take the deal, but others like Govs. Rick Perry (TX) and Nikki Haley (SC) are steadfastly refusing to do so.
This dispute isn’t just a matter of politics, it’s actually a matter of life and death for low-income Americans. A new analysis of a 2012 study underscores the stakes:
Click HERE for a much deeper, wonkier look at this and other data.
BOTTOM LINE: Instead of playing politics with peoples’ lives, it’s time for all governors to agree to Obamacare’s expansion of the Medicaid program.
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