Alaska Gov. Bill Walker, an Independent, ran for election in part on expanding Medicaid under Obamacare. He tried to get the state's Republican legislature to work with him in finding a way to do it, but couldn't get agreement from them, so he announced Thursday he has a
plan that bypasses them.
The move comes after the Alaska Legislature earlier this year rejected Walker's efforts to expand the program through the state budget process, then adjourned without allowing a vote on a separate expansion bill.
Walker made the announcement at a morning news conference in Anchorage at the headquarters of the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium, an organization that has backed Medicaid expansion for years. Its former director of legal and intergovernmental affairs, Valerie Davidson, is now the governor's health commissioner. […]
"This is the final option for me—I've tried everything else," Walker said. "Today, Alaska becomes the 30th state to accept the benefits of Medicaid expansion."
This will cover some 40,000 Alaskans who are now uninsured, and the creation of about 4,000 jobs according to the governor's office. Under Alaska law, the governor can take action to accept federal money by executive action. He has submitted his plan to a House-Senate budget committee which will have 45 days to consider the proposal and give its advice. But the committee does not have the power to block Walker's action. Walker said that no matter what the committee says, "[i]t is my intention to accept Medicaid expansion—that's correct."
The Alaska chapter of the Koch brothers' Americans for Prosperity is, of course, livid. The group’s state director, Jeremy Price, says he's looking at their legal options and might end up suing the governor. That's because, he says, the state can't afford to insure 40,000 more people. But it can afford the legal fees it will have to spend in the AFP's potential lawsuit. So yeah, this is all about saving the taxpayers money.