Despite the increasing push from the left for states to expand Medicaid under ObamaCare, 25 states, including Alabama, have resisted.
Southern states have been particularly apprehensive about accepting the expansion. Arkansas, West Virginia, and Kentucky are the only three who have, and Arkansas’ experience was so bad that they just voted to reverse course, according to a Watchdog article published on Wednesday.
“We just put another layer of complexity on top of a broken system,” Arkansas House Majority Leader Bruce Westerman said in a conference call with reporters on Tuesday, adding that Arkansas is experiencing some major “buyer’s remorse.”
Last year Arkansas instituted an Obama-approved hybrid “private option” system that would allow the state to take advantage of the Medicaid expansion funding by having private insurance companies provide subsidized coverage for the newly-eligible population.
Approximately 100,000 Arkansans signed up for the service. On Tuesday, the Arkansas State House of Representatives narrowly voted against reauthorizing the program for the coming year.
Arkansas’ Democratic Governor Mike Beebe is pleading with legislators to pass the reauthorization, but House and Senate Republicans seem to be standing firm.
Arkansas’s buyer’s remorse should serve as a reminder to Alabama lawmakers and citizens not to buy into the media narrative that Medicaid expansion will be an economic boon for the state.
“It was sold as free money from D.C., but it’s not free, and strings are attached,” Westerman said.
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