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As part of his budget proposal Governor John Kasich (R) will support taking advantage of the Affordable Care Act to expand Medicaid in Ohio. This move comes as a bit of a surprise given that Kasich as been one of the biggest opponents of Obamacare, but in the end Kasich decided the expansion was too good a deal for the state to pass up.
The move should help roughly half a million low income people in the state gain coverage through the program with the federal government covering most of the cost.
Since the Supreme Court made Medicaid expansion optional it has created a real divide among Republican governors. Many, like Texas Gov. Rick Perry, have rejected the Medicaid expansion in an effort to continue opposing Obamacare and hopefully cripple the new law. A handful of Republicans governors though believe that as long as it is the law of the land not accepting the money would be detrimental to their states.
Via: The Advisory Board Company
Kasich is now the fifth Republican governor to publicly support Medicaid expansion. On the other hand, ten Republican governor have come out against the expansion and several more are likely to follow suit.
It appears that when the Medicaid expansion is set to take place in 2014 roughly a third of the country will at least initially not take part. As a result. the ACA will cover millions fewer than it was intended to.
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Maine? Maine? What’s the deal on Maine?
That map is a bit deceptive, at least with regard to Missouri. Yes, Governor Jay Nixon (D) supports expanding Medicare under ACA, and made it a major part of his state of the state address and his budget proposal.
The GOP-dominated legislature (dominated = enough votes to override anything Nixon vetoes), on the other hand, is clearly against Obamacare in general and anything related to it. For three+ years, the state GOP has pushed anti-ACA stuff in the legislature and in statewide ballot measures, including a measure against the individual mandate back in 2010 that passed with something like 70-30 support across the state. The GOP hasn’t flat out said the expansion of Medicaid is a dead proposal since Nixon started his big push, and they’re getting pressure from local hospitals across the state to support it, but it is by no means a sure thing.
MO ought to be gray on that map.
Similarly, in IL the governor wants to participate, with some pushback from the legislature which is considering it this week. Hospitals and insurance companies are pushing for it.
Ah, yes. The state of Misery. It is not widely known outside of Iowa that part of the Original Misery Compromise is: Iowa was willing to give Misery our southern tier counties; those sharing common boundaries. The benefits were good for both states. Misery would receive more fertile land to farm. Iowans would rid their state of people who were sympathetic to the South. And, most importantly, the IQs of both states, on average, would rise almost 30%. Just reporting a little state history of Iowa.