I think we all assumed that the enormous attention conservative gabbers devoted to the mixed and empirically limited results of the Oregon Medicaid Study was aimed at those states which were still struggling with the decision about whether and how to accept the Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid expansion. But nobody should be surprised if it’s also trained at Republican governors and legislators who had earlier accepted or supported the expansion. That’s what Washington Examiner columnist Philip Klein did today. After listing the gubernatorial heretics (Scott, Brewer, Snyder, Christie, Martinez, Kasich, Sandoval and Dalrymple), Klein lays down this marker for future reference:
Republican governors supporting expanding Medicaid are trying to argue that it is the humane thing to do. But there is nothing humane about taking money from middle class taxpayers to finance a health-care entitlement for the poor that, according to the best available research, does not improve their health.
Don’t be surprised if this pops up in some 2014 Republican primary fundraising letters and ads.
And to think: Medicaid used to be a program everyone in both parties supported.
