States discover news ways to finance Medicaid expansion
“Last year, nearly 60 percent of Maine residents voted to expand the state’s Medicaid program — an option provided by the Affordable Care Act that would extend health insurance to tens of thousands of the state’s low-income people. But the state’s Republican governor, Paul LePage, a longtime opponent of Medicaid expansion, has refused to implement the policy because he doesn’t want to raise taxes to pay the state’s share of the cost. The impasse highlights how the intense political push and pull over Medicaid expansion persists even when voters bypass legislators and decide the issue directly at the ballot box.”