Now that the election is over and Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley finds himself safely re-elected, it was time today to deliver a dose of reality to state legislators about the dismal state of the state's budget.
In fact, after years of Republican misrule things are looking so poorly here in the Heart of Dixie that Gov. Bentley said that he might just do what he once said would lead Alabama into an "abyss of debt" -- accept Medicaid expansion.
In remarks before lawmakers wrapping up three days of legislative orientation, Bentley — who for years has expressed staunch opposition to expansion — said he would not expand the system until proposed reforms of the state system go into effect. However, he added he would be open to discussing a block grant program, similar to an expansion that took place in Arkansas this year.
Of course, it isn't going to happen overnight. Bentley hasn't even crafted a proposal to present to the Obama Administration yet. Right now it's just something he's throwing out there to see if his Republican colleagues crucify him -- or just shrug their shoulders.
But whenever it comes -- and eventually it will have to -- it will be welcome indeed for nearly 200,000 Alabamians.
Alabama has one of the most restrictive Medicaid systems in the country. Childless adults do not qualify, and those with children must earn income far below the poverty level to access the program. The Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonprofit that tracks health issues, estimates that 191,000 Alabamians would be eligible for an expansion of Medicaid.
And when expansion does finally arrive in Alabama, it will have been a remarkable turnaround for Bentley, who during his 2014 State of the State Address
buried the idea with a great big shovel:
“Ladies and gentlemen, nothing is free,” he said. “The money the federal government is spending with wild abandon is not federal dollars – those are your dollars, your hard-earned tax dollars. There is no difference between federal money and your money. Our great nation is 17.2 trillion dollars in debt and it increases by 2-billion dollars every single day. That is why I cannot expand Medicaid in Alabama. We will not bring hundreds of thousands into a system that is broken and buckling.”
That was less than a year ago. And just a few weeks before the election Obamacare and Medicaid expansion were
still the spawn of Satan:
"I will not set up a state exchange in Alabama," Bentley said during a speech to the Birmingham Business Alliance, according to the Birmingham News. He went on to call Obamacare "the worst piece of legislation passed in my lifetime," the Associated Press reports.
Of course - that was then and this is now, which is how politics frequently works in Alabama.