Jan Brewer blinks: Arizona has change of heart on (ACA-mandated) Medicaid expansion
Jan Brewer's finger is wagging no more.
In what is the first significant healthcare reform-related story of 2013, Brewer said in her State of the State address that Arizona will participate in the expansion of the Medicaid program as part of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. That means about 300,000 low-income Arizonans--nearly 5 percent of the state's population--will have insurance coverage come next year.
This is a remarkable story for a variety reasons. There has been a hard red line of Republican governors who have steadfastly said they wouldn't participate in Medicaid expansion under ACA. Even though the feds would foot the expansion bill for years after the implementation, they professed being scared they would not only be wasting money but also advancing the scourge of socialized medicine.
That stance has softened a bit since the November elections, but only the governors of Nevada and New Mexico have said they would open up their Medicaid rolls. That makes perfect sense, since Nevada's Brian Sandoval and New Mexico's Susana Martinez govern in states with a plurality of Democrats and huge Latino populations. Taking any other path would put them at risk of alienating the large number of voters in their states who have historically been underinsured.
Brewer also made national headlines last year for wagging her finger at President Obama in a scolding manner on an airport tarmac in Phoenix, only weeks after first excoriating him in a book she published in late 2011.
http://www.fiercehealthfinance.com/story/arizona-has-change-heart-medicaid-expansion/2013-01-15
Now that the election is over some republican governors are quietly folding their opposition to the expansion of Medicaid included in health care reform.
= new reply since forum marked as read
