Arizona Legislature grudgingly expands Medicaid

Brewer lectured Obama about immigration
when he visited in 2011, but she embraced
his health plan's expansion of Medicaid.
(Associated Press photo)

Kicking and screaming, the Arizona Legislature allowed Republican Gov. Jan Brewer to expand Medicaid in the state under federal health-care reform yesterday after she threatened to veto any bill not accomplishing the move, then called a special session to force lawmakers to act.

A handful of Republicans joined Democrats to pass the measure. "Medicaid amendments intended to defeat or change the legislation — all beaten back by the bipartisan coalition — included a repeal of the hospital assessment that helps fund the expansion, an anti-abortion provision, a requirement for a two-thirds majority approval and proposals that would roll back expansion if federal funding fell short of what’s promised," The Arizona Republic reported. "Conservatives, some calling themselves the 'minority party' though they outnumber Democrats, complained that the process shut out the public and most members of the GOP, which hold majorities in both chambers."

"Unique factors affecting Arizona's Medicaid program . . . played a role in Brewer's decision to set aside her staunch opposition to Obamacare," Jeffrey Young writes on The Huffington Post. "In 2011, a federal court allowed Brewer to freeze enrollment of adults without children into Medicaid to resolve a budget crunch [so the] federally financed expansion enables Arizona to reopen Medicaid without having to pay about half the cost. . . . Moreover, Arizona expanded Medicaid to cover all adults below the poverty line based on a ballot initiative approved by voters in 2000." (Read more)