Could the selfish folks running TX be next? Wendy wants it, but GOP types are against these folks getting healthcare. Saw another article saying how now that the word is out and people overall like Obamacare the GOP is trying to call it the ACA to avoid giving Obama more credit. ***** http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/tennessee-medicaid-expansion-plan In a growing trend, Tennessee looks like it will be the next Republican-led state to move toward expanding Medicaid under Obamacare. The Tennessean reported that Gov. Bill Haslam (R) said Thursday that Tennessee would aim to submit a Medicaid expansion plan to the Department of Health and Human Services "some time this fall." The program would cover more than 150,000 low-income residents in the state. Like 24 other states, almost all of them with statehouses controlled by Republicans, Tennessee declined to expand Medicaid in the initial rollout of Obamacare last year, leaving tens of thousands of people uninsured. Since then two of those states have changed course and embraced Medicaid expansion, and another three states have expressed an interest in doing so. Tennessee now joins the latter group
Now that the fight over Obamacare is basically over these states can go back to normalcy and make decisions that are in the interests of their populace. I'm glad that the media focus has shifted enough so that these state leaders finally get some brief relief from pressure by their base to be self-destructive.
PA too BREAKING: PA Caves To Medicaid Expansion WASHINGTON -- Pennsylvania agreed to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act on Thursday, joining 26 states and the District of Columbia. Federal regulators accepted a modified proposal from Gov. Tom Corbett (R) that will offer an estimated 500,000 low-income individuals subsidies to purchase private insurance. The plan allows some low-income individuals to be charged premiums for coverage, and permits the number of available benefit plans to be reduced from 14 to two -- a "high-risk" option and "low-risk" options -- according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
Wyoming... Why Even Uber-Conservative States Are Now Bending On Obamacare There is now a growing body of evidence about how refusing to expand Medicaid hurts hospitals financially. Fitch Ratings cited missing Medicaid money in recent credit rating downgrades for some hospitals in non-expansion states. Meanwhile, hospitals in expansion states have reported drops in uninsured patients and the corresponding increase in paying customers, a sure benefit to their bottom line.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/01/opinion/paul-krugman-the-medicare-miracle.html?_r=0 Time for some muted praise from both sides of the aisle. The news cycle for Republicans has moved on to war and they have seemingly stopped caring about Obamacare. Republicans have some good ideas, or at least ideas that give better outcomes than the status quo. Obamacare increasingly appears to have been one of them.
