Econintersect: Eight Republican governors have agreed to implement the expanded Medicare provision of the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA, aka “Obamacare”. This has happened despite Republican governors having strongly opposed the legislation and denounced the act after passage. When the SCOTUS (Supreme Court of the U.S.) ruled the mandatory implementation of expanded Medicaid was an unconstitutional provision of the law, Republican governors generally were vocal in declaring they had been liberated from an onerous imposition.
As of 01 March 2013 24 states had accepted the expanded Medicaid provisions of PPACA and 14 had rejected implementation.
Click on map to view larger interactive graphic.
Via: The Advisory Board Company
The eight Republican governors who have elected to implement the program are John Kasich (Ohio), Jan Brewer (Arizona), Rick Snyder (Michigan), Brian Sandoval (Nevada), Susana Martinez (New Mexico), Chris Chrystie (New Jersey), Jack Dalrymple (North Dakota) and Rick Scott (Florida).
So what has changed? Here is what a recent Life Health Pro article said:
The Medicaid expansion provision of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) “is a great deal for the states,” and will ultimately be implemented by most, if not all, the former head of the federal agency overseeing implementation of PPACA said today.
“The irony of those states that decide we are not going to sign on to the Medicaid expansion is that the governors who are doing so are saying, ‘We’re not going to insure our uninsured people, but we are still going make our taxpayers pay federal taxes to insure uninsured people in other states,'” said Jay Angoff, a lawyer with Mehri & Skalet in Washington and the first head of the Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight (CCIIO) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
In the third week of February, outspoken Obamacare critic Gov. Rick Scott, a Republican, announced he would implement the expanded Medicaid program. In Florida about 900,000 more people will receive healthcare as a result. Here is what was written about the Florida development by Life health pro:
Scott said he would support the expansion as long as the federal government pays 100 percent of the increased costs, which is the deal offered to states by the Obama administration for the first three years. After that, the federal government said it would pay 90 percent of the cost for the additional enrollees.
The governor said he gained new perspective after his mother’s death last year, calling his decision to support the PPACA provision a “compassionate, common sense step forward,” and not a “white flag of surrender to government-run health care.”
“Before I ever dreamed of standing here today as governor of this great state, I was a strong advocate for better ways to improve health care than the government-run approach taken in the President’s health care law. I believe in a different approach. But, regardless of what I — or anyone else — believes, a Supreme Court decision and a presidential election made the President’s health care mandates the law of the land,” Scott said at a news conference.
The political affiliation of the governors for the 26 states that have not yet accepted the expanded Medicaid program:
- 14 states rejecting: All Republican governors.
- 3 states leaning toward rejecting: All Republican governors.
- 5 states undecided: 4 Republicans, 1 Democrat.
- 4 states leaning toward accepting: 1 Republican, 3 Democrats.
Sources:
Angoff: Medicaid expansion “great deal” for states (Arthur D. Postal, Lihe Health Pro, 08 March 2013)
Florida governor agrees to PPACA Medicaid expansion (Gary Fineout and Kelli Kennedy, Lihe Health Pro, 21 February 2013)
Another Republican governor to seek Medicaid money (Angela Delli Santi, Health Life Pro, 27 February 2013)
Where each state stands on ACA’s Medicaid expansion (The Advisory Board Company, 04 March 2013)