Arizona Governor Jan Brewer, one of the most vocal opponents of President Obama’s Affordable Care Act, announced Monday that the state will expand its Medicaid program. The expansion will include anyone who earns up to 133 percent of the current federal poverty level.
In her annual State of the State address, Brewer acknowledged the pragmatism behind her decision, saying she agreed to go with the expansion in order to receive the program’s funds and create jobs for the people of Arizona.
In her speech to state lawmakers, Brewer begrudgingly admitted her decision was also based on Obama’s re-election and last year’s Supreme Court ruling making Obamacare is the law of the land.
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“Try as we might, the law was upheld by the United States Supreme Court,” Brewer said. “The Affordable Care Act is not going anywhere, at least for the time being.”
She believes the expansion will give aid to those on the lowest rung of the state’s economic ladder and will also provide assistance to hospitals and caregivers whose work has previously gone unpaid.
Brewer is the third Republican governor to agree to the Medicaid expansion. Susana Martinez of New Mexico and Brian Sandoval of Nevada have announced their states’ participation.
While she agreed to expand Medicaid, Brewer remains skeptical of the federal government’s plan to fully cover newly eligible individuals beginning next year through 2016 and reduce funding to 90 percent by 2022. She plans to implement a self-described “circuit breaker” which would automatically scale back the size of Arizona’s Medicaid program should the federal government decrease funding.
“I will not allow Obamacare to become a bait and switch,” Brewer said.
In referencing the reality that the Affordable Care Act is now part of the country’s landscape, she hearkened back to a much-publicized moment between her and the President on an airplane tarmac last year.
“We cannot wag our finger at the federal government,” Brewer said. “Believe me, I tried that once.”
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