The Newark Star-Ledger reports that New Jersey Governor Chris Christie is "leaning against accepting federal funds to expand Medicaid in New Jersey."
You're against accepting federal funds to expand Medicaid, Governor? What about that little waiver you filed with the Department of Health and Human Services and subsequently approved (PDF) by DHHS April 14, 2011?
The Associated Press reported at the time that your 2012 budget relied on $88 million in savings from these Federal Medicaid matching funds.
U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone Jr. (D., N.J.)... was celebrating the news. "This is one more benefit related to the Affordable Care Act that helps people with medical care and helps states with financial resources to meet those needs."
I'd applaud you for wanting to expand insurance coverage, but then you had to cover your bases with the Tea Party fan club.
What made this "exansion" all the more galling was your subsequent proposal to gut the state's Medicaid plan. Again, from the Star-Ledger:
In the most controversial element of the proposal, the Department of Human Services expects to save as much as $32.5 million by sharply limiting who is eligible for coverage.
-snip-
Democratic lawmakers in Washington were critical of the administration’s proposal, which New Jersey Policy Perspective, a liberal research organization, says will result in preventing 93,000 adults from getting health care.
In a nifty two-step, Gov. Christie submitted a stand-alone waiver sure to gain DHHS approval and maximize Federal Medicaid funds to New Jersey, then followed it with a "comprehensive" waiver designed to minimize state Medicaid spending at the expense of the state's most vulnerable populations. Thankfully, DHHS has not granted approval for this draconian waiver. It has given Gov. Christie another political talking point to burnish his Tea Party bona fides (and maybe that was his goal all along).
This is all too reminiscent of Congressional GOP members railing against the stimulus bill, but appearing at every photo-op in their district made possible by those stimulus funds. Gov. Christie can stand at the lectern, scolding the media and his constituents, claiming to stand against Obamacare, while taking all the ACA money he can get.
I can't wait to see what I-was-for-it-before-I-was-against-it contortions Gov. Christie will make to explain this away.