Three Republican governors have now endorsed the Medicaid expansion since the midterms

Washington Post ^ | 12/15/2014 | Jason Millman

[GIdget2004]

Gov. Bill Haslam of Tennessee on Monday morning became the latest Republican governor to announce support of Obamacare's Medicaid expansion —and the third in the nation since Republicans gained more power at the state and federal levels in the November midterm elections.

Like most other Republican governors who want to take the health-care law's generous federal funding, Haslam is now offering a plan that deviates from the Medicaid expansion envisioned under the Affordable Care Act. Haslam, who made the announcement almost a month after his re-election, said the Obama administration has verbally approved the approach.

The Tennessee plan, which Haslam said will be debated by a special session of the state legislature, is a two-year wavier program with two tracks. It will offer vouchers to people earning up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level — or about $16,100 for an individual — to help purchase employer coverage they would otherwise struggle to afford. Other newly eligible individuals can sign up in health plans modeled after health reimbursement accounts, with people earning above the poverty level required to pay premiums and copays. Haslam's administration didn't immediately offer details about how those payments are structured.

In Tennessee, about 142,000 low-income adults fall into what's known as the coverage gap — people who earn too much to qualify for the existing Medicaid program but not enough to qualify for subsidies to purchase private coverage on the Obamacare health insurance marketplaces...

Haslam's announcement comes after almost a year-and-a-half of discussions with the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services over an acceptable Medicaid expansion alternative. That may have been the easiest part for Haslam, who joins Matt Mead of Wyoming and Gary Herbert of Utah in offering a Medicaid expansion plan in the month since the midterms passed.

[EXCH54FE]

Gov. Bill Haslam of Tennessee is a RINO and must be removed from office.

[House Atreides]

This is the type of thing that makes me worry a bit about what will happen if (IMHO it’s WHEN instead of IF) the Supreme Court rules for the plaintiffs in the suit challenging Obamacare taxes (and therefore the linked subsidies) in Federal exchange only states. I expect that ruling in favor of the plaintiffs in June 2015.

Will Republican governors and Republican state legislators allow Obamacare to largely wither and die (as they should in the lead up to the critical 2016 election) or will they move to set up state exchanges? I fear what the answer may be in some states.

[DoodleDawg]

So they still hate Obamacare but are warming up to the federal Medicaid dollars. The hypocrisy is positively nauseating.

[PGR88]

Like most other Republican governors who want to take the health-care law's generous federal funding

People do not see it, but this is why the Federal Reserve, our fiat currency and centrally-controlled interest rates are the foundation of progressive government. The US debt is $18 trillion, even in the 6th year of "economic recovery" the deficit is still $483 billion. The Fed is sitting on $5 Trillion of monetized US Government debt and low interest rates allow Wall Street and the world to buy even more.

The upshot is the Federal Government can ALWAYS find more money to expand its reach and to bribe governors with promises of bigger budgets (and votes). Free money is a better weapon than even guns, and conservative values will always lose to the huge Federal sugar-daddy in the end.

[martinidon]

I agree, I don’t get the Republicans on this. If the Feds want to pay 100% for the expansion, I could understand. However, the Feds only cover about 90% and then it starts dropping where the State is responsible for most of the expansion. Who would agree to that? Once someone gets on Medicaid they are not getting off....

[Mozilla]

TN GOP Governor Announces Plan to Expand Obamacare
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/3237476/posts

[sarge83]

I hope the TN legislature puts the brakes on this idiocy. Haslam is a Corker/Alexander mini-me-me. Kentucky’s idiot governor just in whole hog against the legislatures consent for the obamacare exchange. Come 2015 the federal tit starts to dry up, no more 100% reimbursements, drops to 80/20, then 50/50, then 20/80, then $0. Talk about a budget buster!

[goldstategop]

The national GOP just fully funded Obamacare.

You’re a hypocrite telling Republican governors not to lighten their state’s load when the national GOP has put up the money for the coming year.

Direct your criticism towards Washington - not the states.

[shalom aleichem]

Obama had Haslam’s privates in a vice over the scam Pilot gas stations was running not passing rebates along. His brother Jimmy owns Browns. Criminal investigation. Had to please the Emperor and Prince Holder to make it go away.

[duffee]

I believe he’s a democrat that runs as a Republican because he knows he can’t get elected as a democrat. I guess that’s what most RINOS are.

[randita]

These governors are risking a huge burden to taxpayers.

So far, the estimates of people who would sign up for Medicaid expansion have been grossly underestimated compared to those who actually have.

If the SCOTUS rules that federal subsidies are illegal in states that did not enact their own exchanges, many more will be dumped into Medicaid.

[sarge83]

the state are still stupid to take the money, it will eventually dry up, it has too. then what? states don’t have the printing press of the federal reserve.