Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer’s supporters on Monday called her decision to back Obamacare the “fiscally conservative” choice, and they launched a 30-second ad to make their case.
The ad was launched by Restoring Arizona, a group tied to the Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry and which has been promoting the Republican governor’s decision to expand Medicaid as part of the Affordable Care Act. The group said it planned to run the ad statewide.
“Gov. Brewer’s conservative plan will keep our state’s budget balanced while providing quality health care to Arizona’s citizens so we can focus our budget on what matters most, like education, public safety and growing our economy,” the narrator said in the spot. It closed by urging Arizonans to contact their legislators to pledge support for Brewer’s “fiscally conservative Medicaid plan.”
Along with skeptical Republican lawmakers, Brewer is facing opposition from the massive and well-funded conservative advocacy group Americans For Prosperity. Brewer’s decision in January to accept the Medicaid expansion under President Barack Obama’s new federal health care law was viewed by many as a surprise, but she defended the move on both moral and economic grounds.
“It is the best option that we have. And it’s the right option at this point in time,” Brewer told conservative radio host Mike Broomhead in January. “You know, it’s going to create jobs, particularly our rural hospitals. And it’s a moral thing. We’ve got people that need insurance. And we’re paying for it, but the taxpayers are paying for it now. So, when you put everything down side-by-side, it’s the right thing to do. It just is impossible to think of doing anything else. Why would I want to send $2 billion to New York or New Jersey or back East to anywhere where they would just squander it, or give it to Colorado?”
Brewer is one of eight Republican governors to accept the Medicaid expansion. The ad highlighted how Brewer joined other “conservative governors” like New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Florida Gov. Rick Scott and Ohio Gov. John Kasich in signing off on the expansion and “protecting their taxpayers and saving hospitals.”
This post has been updated.
