At least 15 governors – 14 of them Republicans – say outright or indicate they will opt out of the Medicaid expansion that is part of the healthcare reform law.
Obamacare originally required states to increase their Medicaid coverage or have their existing Medicaid allocations from the federal government cut. But the Supreme Court overruled that part of the law last Thursday.
Governors have some financial incentive to go for the expansion of Medicaid, which covers poor people, as the federal government will pay for most of the increase through 2016. But many Republican governors are worried about what will happen beyond then and oppose Obamacare in any case.
“You can make the political call real quick, but the actual decision is a complicated one,” Matt Salo of the National Association of Medicaid Directors told
The Hill. “Governors are going to be looking at the numbers and asking: Does this make sense for us?”
Seven states with Republican governors have offered a definitive “no.” That includes Florida, led by Gov. Rick Scott, and Louisiana, led by Gov. Bobby Jindal.
Eight other states — seven with GOP governors — appear likely to reject Medicaid expansion, comments from governors and their offices indicate. For example, Texas GOP Gov. Rick Perry “has no interest in fast-tracking any portion of this bankrupting and overreaching legislation,” spokeswoman Lucy Nashed said in a statement. “We will continue to call for the full repeal of the bill.”
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