Ohio Gov. John Kasich (R) has vigorously defended his decision to expand Medicaid under Obamacare, the most outspoken among the GOP governors who have done so. But he’s pumping the brakes a bit in a new proposal in an attempt to make the program more palatable to conservatives.
The Bucyrus Telegraph-Forum reported Monday that Kasich wants to change how Medicaid expansion works in his state and have enrollees above the poverty line pay $15 to 20 a month toward their coverage. It’s a proposal that the Obama administration has approved in other Republican-led states, like Indiana, which refused to expand traditional Medicaid. Kasich had not originally asked for any conservative modifications when he decided to expand Medicaid in 2013.
But it seems that some of the criticism he’s weathered for that decision has gotten to him.
“Kasich said he’s proposing the Medicaid premiums as a peace offering to conservatives who have opposed his moves to expand the state health care plan,” the Telegraph-Forum reported. The governor went around the GOP-led legislature to expand Medicaid in 2013. His new proposal must be approved by the Obama administration.
Generally, Kasich has been the most vocal Republican supporting Medicaid expansion. He recently advocated strongly for the program in a closed-door meeting with Montana Republicans.
“In my state it’s working,” Kasich said. “People are healthier, they’re getting their lives back, they’re getting work, and that’s the reason I’m doing it.”
Kasich is too old to be moonwalking. He should stick to bowling with college co-eds, like he was during his presidential flirtations in Iowa two decades ago…
What an evil man in the billionaires pocket…He’s also stymied needed construction on a new Ohio river spanning bridge because he wants huge tolls on that vital commercial link.
Strange but true: Ohio is considered a blue state because it voted Democratic in the last six presidential elections, and it’s my guess that those folks don’t want a republican lite approach to ACA.
I do wish I had invested in ‘back-pedals’…
And, gol darn it, that’s why we’re going to make them pay money they can’t afford. Enough is enough, ya know?