Despite the unrest between Republicans and Democrats in congress, especially when it comes to healthcare reform, several Republican congressmen are surprising the GOP and their constituents by supporting President Obama’s Medicaid expansion plan. Under Obama’s proposal, Medicaid coverage would extend to an additional twenty-eight million uninsured Americans. The government plans to cover the complete cost of this expansion up until 2017, and thereafter states will only have to cover 10% of the costs. Medicaid qualification is becoming more inclusive, with those 130% above the poverty line and childless qualifying for the program. This growing government program has been a part of the Democrat’s platform, and this new wave of GOP support is taking government and the media by storm.
Republican Governor Rick Scott, from Florida, changed his stance on Obamacare expansion this week. He had initially been adamantly against this expansion, but he has instead changed his mind. He, along with five other GOP members, now believes that this program will alleviate the financial stress on hospitals. Hospitals bear the brunt of the uninsured which is in turn passed onto the government. In 2011, Florida had to compensate for the nearly 3 billion dollars of medical expenses of the uninsured. Governor Rick Snyder (R) reversed his initial stance when said, “Expansion will create more access to primary care providers, reduce the burden on hospitals and small businesses, and save precious tax dollars”. Republicans are gathering together and mustering support for the program.
Despite their newfound support of President Obama’s expansionary government program, Republicans in congress are still pointing out caveats with the proposal, so that in the case of government overspending, they can say “I told you so”. Words like “limit” and “short term” are used when Republicans announce their support for the program, so that if there is long term overspending they can reiterate that was not the plan they supported. The growing support is a sign of increased government involvement in health care as a way to correct this market failure.