Republican governors who have embraced health care reform?s massive expansion of Medicaid are finding themselves wearing another unexpected hat: Obamacare salesman-in-chief.
For some state legislatures, it?s a hard sell.
Continue ReadingGovernors like Rick Scott of Florida and John Kasich of Ohio bucked their conservative base to accept billions in federal funds to provide basic health coverage to millions of uninsured constituents. But they need the support of their Republican-led legislatures to make it a reality.
It?s a tall task that?s dividing statehouses around the country. Although expansion advocates cheered when GOP stalwarts like Scott and Kasich voiced support, state lawmakers have not all warmed to the proposal.
?I am opposed to Medicaid expansion because I believe it crosses the line of the proper role of government,? Florida House Speaker Will Weatherford declared when the legislative session opened this week.
?Florida is being tempted with empty promises to comply with policies we would never pay for if we knew the true cost. They?re trying to buy off states one by one,? added Weatherford, who may be mulling over a primary challenge to Scott based in part on Obamacare ? ironically the issue that Scott rode into office on.
Scott?s been taking heat from high-profile Florida Republicans in the two weeks since endorsing the expansion, and Republican lawmakers on a key House panel wasted little time voting down his proposal on party lines this week.
Pro-expansion Republicans aren?t the only ones trying to woo reluctant lawmakers. Democratic governors in Missouri and Arkansas are also taking the expansion message to Republican-controlled legislatures. The outcome is still uncertain in both states, but Arkansas Gov. Mike Beebe has been working with Republicans on a plan moving the expansion population into the state?s health insurance exchange.
New Jersey?s Gov. Chris Christie also backed Medicaid expansion, but he doesn?t face balky state lawmakers. Democrats control the New Jersey Legislature. They want him to do more, not less, on Obamacare.
But Republican legislative leaders in Arizona, Michigan and Ohio have signaled varying degrees of resistance as they question whether the federal government can afford expansion and whether state taxpayers could be left on the hook. That?s put governors like Arizona?s Jan Brewer and Ohio?s Kasich ? onetime state lawmakers themselves ? in the uncomfortable position of lobbying fellow conservatives on a crucial part of President Barack Obama?s agenda.
Brewer, for example, has taken to characterizing Medicaid expansion as the ?conservative choice? for Arizona, irking those who consider it a massive bloating of the state?s health bureaucracy. Trying to blunt opposition, Brewer?s office has also dubbed the expansion as a ?restoration,? portraying it as an effort to reverse Medicaid cutbacks the state made in more challenging budget years.
Unlike Scott, Brewer?s making a high-profile push to surround herself with allies. On Tuesday, she held a rally with more than 100 health care providers, many in white coats, to pressure lawmakers on Medicaid. The business community is driving an effort to build support for the expansion, which faces a skeptical audience in the Arizona Legislature.
In nearly two months since announcing her decision, Brewer has held numerous meetings with lawmakers and taken the expansion message across the state, her spokesman Matthew Benson said.
?She?s trying to really get as much time with [lawmakers] as possible to try to get folks comfortable with the plan,? Benson said.
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