Pennsylvania GOP Governor Turns Down Medicaid Expansion
Source: TPM
Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett (R) announced Tuesday that his state will turn down the Medicaid expansion, becoming the first governor of a blue state to officially say no to the coverage provision of the Affordable Care Act that the Supreme Court made optional....
The decision will please conservative advocates who are urging leaders to stonewall Obamacare implementation. But it’s a blow to the many thousands of uninsured Pennsylvanians who would have received coverage through the program, which extends Medicaid eligibility to Americans up to 133 percent of the poverty line for participating states....
The Medicaid expansion is a financially enticing offer for states: the federal government would pay the full cost for the first few years and 90 percent after 2020. Conservative opponents fret that the federal government won’t come through with the funds. Top Democrats in Pennsylvania are already demanding that Corbett reverse course.
“Governor Corbett chose to pander to the far right and willfully inflict damage on Pennsylvania’s economy - he has undermined any promises he makes about jobs,” said State Rep. Dan Frankel, the chair of the Democratic Caucus. “The federally funded Medicaid expansion would be a win-win for Pennsylvania. … Governor Corbett should reverse his job-killing decision.”
Read more: http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2013/02/pennsylvania-tom-corbett-declines-medicaid-expansion.php
"Conservative opponents fret that the federal government won’t come through with the funds." And why would that be? Because their buddies in the House killed it, of course.
Is there a way for states to opt back in once they make the repukes go away? If so, this could be a winning issue for a Dem.
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He did spare the individual mandate, finding that it fell within Congress' taxing authority, but sided with the repukes on this key point and found that the feds could not make Medicaid expansion mandatory for the states, leading to a repuke exodus that will leave low-income people in Red states without access to either Medicaid or the exchanges. 
