Skip to main content
Sister Publication Links
  • ESG: THE IMPLEMENTATION IMPERATIVE
Subscribe
  • Sign Up Free
  • Login
  • Subscribe
  • News
    • Current News
    • Providers
    • Insurance
    • Digital Health
    • Government
    • Finance
    • Technology
    • Safety & Quality
    • Transformation
    • People
    • Regional News
    • Digital Edition (Web Version)
    • Patients
    • Operations
    • Care Delivery
    • Payment
    • Midwest
    • Northeast
    • South
    • West
  • Unwell in America
  • Opinion
    • Bold Moves
    • Breaking Bias
    • Commentaries
    • Letters
    • Vital Signs Blog
    • From the Editor
  • Events & Awards
    • Awards
    • Conferences
    • Galas
    • Virtual Briefings
    • Webinars
    • Nominate/Eligibility
    • 100 Most Influential People
    • 50 Most Influential Clinical Executives
    • Best Places to Work in Healthcare
    • Excellence in Governance
    • Health Care Hall of Fame
    • Healthcare Marketing Impact Awards
    • Top 25 Emerging Leaders
    • Top 25 Innovators
    • Diversity in Healthcare
      • - Luminaries
      • - Top 25 Diversity Leaders
      • - Leaders to Watch
    • Women in Healthcare
      • - Luminaries
      • - Top 25 Women Leaders
      • - Women to Watch
    • Digital Health Transformation Summit
    • ESG: The Implementation Imperative Summit
    • Leadership Symposium
    • Social Determinants of Health Symposium
    • Women Leaders in Healthcare Conference
    • Best Places to Work Awards Gala
    • Health Care Hall of Fame Gala
    • Top 25 Diversity Leaders Gala
    • Top 25 Women Leaders Gala
    • - Hospital of the Future
    • - Value Based Care
    • - Hospital at Home
    • - Workplace of the Future
    • - Digital Health
    • - Future of Staffing
    • - Hospital of the Future (Fall)
  • Multimedia
    • Podcast - Beyond the Byline
    • Sponsored Podcast - Healthcare Insider
    • Video Series - The Check Up
    • Sponsored Video Series - One on One
  • Data Center
    • Data Center Home
    • Hospital Financials
    • Staffing & Compensation
    • Quality & Safety
    • Mergers & Acquisitions
    • Data Archive
    • Resource Guide: By the Numbers
    • Surveys
    • Data Points
  • MORE+
    • Contact Us
    • Advertise
    • Media Kit
    • Newsletters
    • Jobs
    • People on the Move
    • Reprints & Licensing
MENU
Breadcrumb
  1. Home
  2. Providers
September 05, 2014 01:00 AM

Reform Update: How Medicaid expansion could play out for governor candidates in red states

Paul Demko
  • Tweet
  • Share
  • Share
  • Email
  • More
    Reprints Print
    Ross

    Mike Ross is an unlikely champion of Obamacare. The former Democratic congressman from Arkansas voted against the law and was one of just three Democrats who voted to repeal it after Republicans took control of the House in 2010.

    “This law was more than 2,000 pages, cut Medicare by half a trillion dollars, placed huge unfunded mandates on our states and authorized the IRS to fine people who can't afford to buy health insurance,” Ross said in a statement after the 2011 repeal vote.

    But Ross is now trying to capitalize on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act to bolster his campaign for governor. Specifically, Ross has seized on Arkansas' expansion of Medicaid through the so-called private option as a cudgel against his GOP opponent, Asa Hutchinson, another former member of Congress.

    “He's not completely at odds with his past position, but he does have this interesting relationship with the entire legislation,” said Jay Barth, a political science professor at Hendrix College in Conway, Ark.

    Polls have suggested that Hutchinson is a slight favorite in the contest.

    The private option, under which newly eligible Medicaid beneficiaries enroll in private plans through the exchange, was a compromise crafted between current Democratic Gov. Mike Beebe and Republican legislative leaders. Similar plans have been adopted in several other states with Republican leadership, most recently in Pennsylvania. Backers of the Arkansas scheme have received some welcome news in recent weeks. Most notably, the state saw its uninsured rate drop by the steepest margin in the country, from 22.5% to 12.4%, according to Gallup.

    But expanding Medicaid by any means whatsoever remains deeply controversial among the GOP base. One of the architects of the private-option plan, three-term Arkansas GOP state Rep. John Burris, was defeated in a primary earlier this year that hinged largely on his support for expanding the healthcare program to households with incomes up to 138% of the federal poverty level.

    Hutchinson has been noncommittal about whether he would scrap the Medicaid plan. “I view the private option as a pilot project; a pilot project that can be ended if needed,” he said in a statement. “As governor, I will assess the benefit of the private option and measure the long-term costs to the state taxpayers.”

    Arkansas Sen. Mark Pryor, who is locked in a tough re-election fight, recently raised eyebrows by releasing an ad explicitly touting the benefits of the federal healthcare law. Most Democrats have largely avoided the topic. Barth suggested that Ross will be closely watching how that tactic fares in assessing how much to focus on healthcare in the coming weeks.

    “If Pryor starts to show some benefit out of it politically you can expect Ross to go the same direction,” Barth said.

    Arkansas is not the only Republican-leaning state where Medicaid expansion could prove a factor in the gubernatorial contest. In Georgia, Democrat Jason Carter (the grandson of former President Jimmy Carter) backs expanding the healthcare program and is locked in a dead heat with Republican incumbent Nathan Deal.

    But Charles Bullock III, a veteran observer of state politics at the University of Georgia, says the issue has been largely dormant in the contest. Instead, Carter has been attacking Deal on education spending and questionable ethics.

    Even if Carter wins, he would be hemmed in by a state law that explicitly prohibits the executive branch from moving forward with Medicaid expansion without legislative approval. “It's going to remain a Republican legislature whatever happens at the top of the ticket,” Bullock said.

    Nicholas Easton, a political science professor at Columbus (Ga.) State University, agrees that Medicaid expansion hasn't been an issue in the race so far. But he thinks Carter may try to exploit it to raise turnout among African American and Latino voters. “That's where I think it could come up eventually,” Easton said. “It may well be a get-out-the-vote issue in the hood.”

    In Arizona, current Republican Gov. Jan Brewer bucked many in her own party by moving forward with Medicaid expansion, touting the positive financial effect on hospitals. But her potential successor, state Treasurer Doug Ducey, won a six-way GOP primary last month by tacking hard to the right. The Democratic nominee Fred DuVal supports the Medicaid expansion and polls show the race in a dead heat.

    Ducey's been noncommittal about whether he wants to scrap the Medicaid expansion. In a statement on his website, Ducey questions whether the federal government will follow through on its promise to fund at least 90% of the program in future years.

    “As governor I will prepare for all scenarios, and I will not allow a massive new entitlement to grow into a huge financial burden for future generations of Arizonans,” Ducey said. “We will keep a lid on healthcare costs, period.”

    Incentives to cut costs

    The Center for American Progress, which is closely aligned with the Obama administration, has released a new blueprint for controlling healthcare costs that relies on traditionally Republican ideas. The “Accountable Care States” model would allow states that reduce spending on Medicare, Medicaid and other government-subsidized programs to keep some of that money. Among the authors of the report are Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, a former health policy adviser to the White House, and Peter Orszag, the president's first budget director.

    Special enrollment in Wisconsin

    The CMS announced this week that it will allow Wisconsin residents who were dropped from the state's BadgerCare program a special 60-day window to sign up for coverage through the exchange. Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin pushed for the special treatment and has been bashing Republican Gov. Scott Walker for increasing the number of uninsured individuals in the state. About 60% of the 63,000 individuals who were dropped from the BadgerCare program didn't buy exchange plans during the open-enrollment period.

    Follow Paul Demko on Twitter: @MHpdemko

    Letter
    to the
    Editor

    Send us a letter

    Have an opinion about this story? Click here to submit a Letter to the Editor, and we may publish it in print.

    Recommended for You
    373837936 (1).jpg
    New guidelines aim to limit trans healthcare at Catholic hospitals
    InDepth: Private Equity
    Legal questions surround private equity-backed Noble Health
    Most Popular
    1
    More healthcare organizations at risk of credit default, Moody's says
    2
    Centene fills out senior executive team with new president, COO
    3
    SCAN, CareOregon plan to merge into the HealthRight Group
    4
    Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan unveils big push that lets physicians take on risk, reap rewards
    5
    Bright Health weighs reverse stock split as delisting looms
    Sponsored Content
    Modern Healthcare A.M. Newsletter: Sign up to receive a comprehensive weekday morning newsletter designed for busy healthcare executives who need the latest and most important healthcare news and analysis.
    Get Newsletters

    Sign up for enewsletters and alerts to receive breaking news and in-depth coverage of healthcare events and trends, as they happen, right to your inbox.

    Subscribe Today
    MH Magazine Cover

    MH magazine offers content that sheds light on healthcare leaders’ complex choices and touch points—from strategy, governance, leadership development and finance to operations, clinical care, and marketing.

    Subscribe
    Connect with Us
    • LinkedIn
    • Twitter
    • Facebook
    • RSS

    Our Mission

    Modern Healthcare empowers industry leaders to succeed by providing unbiased reporting of the news, insights, analysis and data.

    Contact Us

    (877) 812-1581

    Email us

     

    Resources
    • Contact Us
    • Advertise with Us
    • Ad Choices Ad Choices
    • Sitemap
    Editorial Dept
    • Submission Guidelines
    • Code of Ethics
    • Awards
    • About Us
    Legal
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Privacy Policy
    • Privacy Request
    Modern Healthcare
    Copyright © 1996-2023. Crain Communications, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
    • News
      • Current News
      • Providers
      • Insurance
      • Digital Health
      • Government
      • Finance
      • Technology
      • Safety & Quality
      • Transformation
        • Patients
        • Operations
        • Care Delivery
        • Payment
      • People
      • Regional News
        • Midwest
        • Northeast
        • South
        • West
      • Digital Edition (Web Version)
    • Unwell in America
    • Opinion
      • Bold Moves
      • Breaking Bias
      • Commentaries
      • Letters
      • Vital Signs Blog
      • From the Editor
    • Events & Awards
      • Awards
        • Nominate/Eligibility
        • 100 Most Influential People
        • 50 Most Influential Clinical Executives
        • Best Places to Work in Healthcare
        • Excellence in Governance
        • Health Care Hall of Fame
        • Healthcare Marketing Impact Awards
        • Top 25 Emerging Leaders
        • Top 25 Innovators
        • Diversity in Healthcare
          • - Luminaries
          • - Top 25 Diversity Leaders
          • - Leaders to Watch
        • Women in Healthcare
          • - Luminaries
          • - Top 25 Women Leaders
          • - Women to Watch
      • Conferences
        • Digital Health Transformation Summit
        • ESG: The Implementation Imperative Summit
        • Leadership Symposium
        • Social Determinants of Health Symposium
        • Women Leaders in Healthcare Conference
      • Galas
        • Best Places to Work Awards Gala
        • Health Care Hall of Fame Gala
        • Top 25 Diversity Leaders Gala
        • Top 25 Women Leaders Gala
      • Virtual Briefings
        • - Hospital of the Future
        • - Value Based Care
        • - Hospital at Home
        • - Workplace of the Future
        • - Digital Health
        • - Future of Staffing
        • - Hospital of the Future (Fall)
      • Webinars
    • Multimedia
      • Podcast - Beyond the Byline
      • Sponsored Podcast - Healthcare Insider
      • Video Series - The Check Up
      • Sponsored Video Series - One on One
    • Data Center
      • Data Center Home
      • Hospital Financials
      • Staffing & Compensation
      • Quality & Safety
      • Mergers & Acquisitions
      • Data Archive
      • Resource Guide: By the Numbers
      • Surveys
      • Data Points
    • MORE+
      • Contact Us
      • Advertise
      • Media Kit
      • Newsletters
      • Jobs
      • People on the Move
      • Reprints & Licensing