GOP Governors’ Endorsements Of Medicaid Expansion Deepen Rifts Within Party
Republican fissures over the expansion of Medicaid, a critical piece of the 2010 health-care law designed to provide coverage to millions of uninsured Americans, continue to deepen, with battles in Arizona and elsewhere showing just how bitter the divisions have become.
Despite expressing distaste for the new law, some GOP governors have endorsed an expansion of Medicaid, and three Jan Brewer of Arizona, John Kasich of Ohio and Rick Snyder of Michigan are trying to persuade their Republican-controlled legislatures to go along. The governors are unwilling to turn down Washingtons offer to spend millions, if not billions, in their states to add people to the state-federal program for the poor. But they face staunch opposition from many GOP legislators who oppose the health-care law and worry that their states will be stuck with the cost of adding Medicaid recipients.
In one of the most explosive of the internal Republican battles, Brewer, a firebrand tea party favorite who once wagged her finger at President Obama, has declared a moratorium on all other legislation until her Medicaid plan, which would add 300,000 Arizonans to the program, is approved. She has backed up her threat by vetoing five unrelated bills.
In Ohio and Michigan, the governors are pressing for last-minute compromises before their legislatures adjourn this summer. The Florida legislature, which has adjourned, rejected Republican Gov. Rick Scotts plan to expand Medicaid.
These conflicts over the health-care law illustrate a larger divide within the Republican Party over an array of issues, including immigration and automatic budget cuts.
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