{mosads}Republicans in the state legislature killed Snyder’s initial plan to participate in the Medicaid expansion. He is now negotiating with the federal government for changes to the state’s Medicaid program that might allow the expansion to pass.
The Affordable Care Act expands Medicaid eligibility to people at or below 133 percent of the federal poverty limit.
The federal government will initially pay for the entire cost of the expansion, then gradually require the states to cover 10 percent of the costs — still far less than the states have to pay for the existing program.
Several Republican governors have accepted the expansion, including hardline conservatives such as Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer, Ohio Gov. John Kasich and Florida Gov. Rick Scott (although the Florida legislature killed the expansion after Scott endorsed it).
Snyder had also proposed working in partnership with the federal government to set up Michigan’s insurance exchange — a new marketplace for private health insurance. Republicans in the state legislature killed that plan, as well, leaving the federal government entirely in charge of the state’s exchange.