At a time where our Republican Congress can't even decide how much of the ACA they want to repeal, the governor of Alabama is seriously considering expanding Medicaid in that state.
The conservative Republican governor of Alabama, a Deep South state where “Obamacare” is often reviled, said Thursday that his administration is mulling an expansion of the state’s Medicaid program under the federal health care law.
Gov. Robert Bentley, a dermatologist turned governor, emphasized that he was in the exploratory stages — and said funding the state’s share of costs could be a stumbling block — but his comments were the strongest to date about the possible acceptance of expansion dollars in the deeply red, high-poverty state.
“We are looking at that. We have not made a final decision on that yet, exactly how that would work,” Bentley said Thursday in response to an audience question about expansion after a speech at a legal conference.
“I am concerned about the plight of the working poor … If doctors are not paid for seeing those patients, doctors will not go to rural Alabama because you can’t expect a doctor to go to rural Alabama and lose money,” Bentley said.
The move, if successful, would bring Medicaid expansion to the center of the Republican-dominated Deep South, a region that has previously been a swath of resistance.
First the Confederate flag comes down from the capital, next Medicaid? Watch out, Governor Bentley, because the Koch brigade will come and hunt you down. Considering the Medicaid expansion is a smart and humane thing to do, however.
