Ben Nelson has written to Harry Reid, asking that the Nebraska deal included in the Senate bill be removed [sub. req.]:
Nelson contends that a $100 million deal he extracted for Nebraska in December to pay the state’s cost of a proposed Medicaid expansion was misunderstood. He said it was intended to act as a placeholder to ensure that all states received similar treatment once negotiations to reconcile the House and Senate bills commenced.
But after weeks of criticism from Nebraskans and fellow Democratic Senators and a backlash that extended nationwide for a deal that came to be known as the “Cornhusker Kickback,” Nelson on Friday sent a letter to Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) asking him to strip the provision from the reform bill.
In his letter, Nelson asks that the Nebraska-only measure be replaced with one that would exempt all states from paying the cost of a proposed Medicaid expansion. However, his letter appears to make clear that regardless of whether that request is granted, he wants the provision affecting Nebraska removed.
Ironically, the Medicaid deal that Nelson secured was one of the more progressive things he could have done, particularly had it been expanded to more states. Instead, now he wants to kick a leg out of the Medicaid expansion exempting states from paying their part of the expansion. The federal government will pay the entire cost of the expansion from 2014 through 2016, with increased support continuing after 2016, but with states still needing to pay a share. Allowing states to opt-out of that could result in signficant coverage gaps.