Governor Bill Haslam may take a political risk in backing a big state Medicaid expansion, but says he’s trying not to let politics steer his decision.
Gov. Haslam, via flickr
Haslam’s fellow Republican governor in Florida, Rick Scott, took a gamble and lost. Scott called to expand Medicaid, but Florida lawmakers refused to go along. Tennessee’s legislature would be a tough sale, Haslam says, and he’s not sure where a similar defeat with his own party would leave him politically.
“We’re trying our hardest to make the right decision, regardless. A lot of people say the governor should never propose something that he or she can’t pass. But I guess I hadn’t bought into that theory.”
Haslam is expected to decide in the next week or two whether to try for the federal healthcare money, which would insure more than a hundred thousand Tennesseans.
One more complication: a health policy expert says turning down the Medicaid expansion will lead to higher tax penalties for businesses (PDF). To that, Haslam says the decision is complex, and anybody who thinks it’s a no-brainer hasn’t done the homework.
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