Christie Removes Another Republican Excuse for Passing on the Medicaid Expansion

The New Jersey Governor became the eighth Republican to take the Medicaid expansion deal.

What I found notable is that he essentially mimicked Florida Republican Governor Rick Scott in reserving the right to back out in future years if the feds don't keep their funding promises. While the feds are paying 100% of the cost of expansion in the first three years, that support ultimately drops to 90% in later years.

Said Christie, “If that [the fed's funding promise] ever changes because of adverse actions by the Obama administration or broken promises, I will end it as quickly as it started."

C. Everett Koop, MD

Anyone who has ever read this blog and noticed its upper right hand corner has known that Dr. Koop and I were friends––for more than 20 years.

One of my more amazing experiences with Dr. Koop centers on a walk we took from the White House to my office up Connecticut Avenue. In the length of about a mile, I don't know how many people stopped him and thanked him for his service. Just regular people on the street––many tourists.

Florida's Republican Governor Scott Does a Deal With Sebelius on Medicaid

A million Floridians will now be eligible for Medicaid––the Obama administration is happy about that.

Republican Rick Scott gets to do it his way––in an almost entirely private market.

By Refusing to Implement the Medicaid Expansion Republican Governors May Be Making the Republican Block Grant Proposals Impractical

Paul Ryan's Medicaid block grant proposals have always made sense to me. Give the states their Medicaid allotment and real flexibility over how they spend what will inevitably be less federal money.

But as I have thought about the impact of implementing the Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act ("Obamacare"), Medicaid block granting is looking more and more problematic.