DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Republican governors who turned down billions in federal dollars from an expansion of Medicaid under President Barack Obama’s health care law now have their hands out in hopes the GOP Congress comes up with a new formula to provide insurance for low-income Americans.
The other GOP governors who agreed to expand state-run services in exchange for federal help – more than a dozen out of the 31 states – are adamant that Congress maintain the financing that has allowed them to add millions of low-income people to the health insurance rolls.
These two groups of Republicans embody the difficulty the emboldened GOP congressional majorities face: Make good on their promises to repeal the 2010 health care law while preserving popular provisions.
Republican governors and lieutenant governors plan to plead their cases with GOP leaders and the Senate Finance Committee on Thursday as the GOP majority has taken the first step to dismantling the law.
Nineteen Republican governors were successful in defying the Affordable Care Act’s mandate that states open up Medicaid, the state-federal health insurance for low-income Americans, to more people.