State laws governing accession to or rejection of the Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid expansion vary in terms of who makes the decision; in some cases, it’s the governor, in some cases the legislature, in some cases both.
So it’s not surprising that in some Republican-controlled states, GOPers are changing the laws to make it harder to undo prior rejectionist decisions, as TPM’s Dylan Scott explains:
Republicans are taking no chances when it comes to Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion. They’re closing every possible door. Under bills passed in Georgia and Kansas recently, even if a Democratic candidate were to pull off an upset and take the governor’s seat, they would not be able to expand the program without the consent of the state legislature — which will almost certainly remain Republican.
It’s a form of scorching the earth prior to a possible political retreat. And it’s probably a good sign for Democrats in these two states that Republicans think it’s possible they could lose the governorship in November.
