by Nomad
Many Republican governors who refused to accept Medicaid expansion in their states could be having second thoughts. The full consequences of their decision are slowly but surely becoming clear.
The Obamacare battle has taken a few interesting twists.
If you look at many of the conservative sites, you'd think it was a disaster and the worst thing that ever happened to America. The fog of partisanship is hard to peer through but grandually that mist seems to be lifting and that's bad news for red states.
With around 22 states now refusing to expand Medicaid under the national healthcare policy, analysts have been warning that Republican governors may end up paying a political price for their principled rejection.
That's particularly true in Texas and Florida where the numbers of uninsured are high. According to some estimates, one quarter of the nation's low-income uninsured reside deep in the heart of Texas.
But it is not just Texas or Florida. If any state could benefit from Obamacare it's Mississippi. The state tops the charts for poor-health indicators: highest in poverty, second-highest in obesity, highest in diabetes and highest in pre-term births. There, 20% Mississippi's nearly 3 million residents are on the Medicaid rolls. Twelve percent are on Medicare, and 20 percent are uninsured, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.
And yet, despite the dire need, Republican Governor Phil Bryant decided to turn down an estimated $426 million in federal funds, citing administration costs and rather oddly, the possibility that Obamacare could in the future be repealed.
