Well, well, well.... From todays Tampa Bay Times:
"Saying his mother's death last year provided "new perspective" on one of the biggest decisions he's faced as Florida's governor, Rick Scott announced Tuesday that he will urge the Legislature to accept federal dollars to expand Medicaid.While the federal government is committed to pay 100 percent of the cost of new people in Medicaid, I cannot, in good conscience, deny the uninsured access to care," Scott said at a hastily arranged press conference at the Governor's Mansion. The announcement reflects an amazing policy reversal for Scott, who came to politics in 2009 with the sole purpose of defeating President Barack Obama's health care law and whose spokesman said as recently as June that Florida would not expand Medicaid....Does anyone understand what this conditional waver is?His endorsement of the Medicaid expansion came hours after the federal government agreed to grant Florida a conditional waiver to privatize Medicaid statewide for the state's roughly 3 million current recipients.
The two announcements appear linked.
For weeks, Scott has said the debate on expanding Medicaid was directly tied to the state's application for the waivers it needs to allow private companies to run the program.
Most importantly for my fellow citizens of Louisiana... now that Rick Scott has thrown in the towel, how much longer can Bobby Jindal live in denial on this issue?