Alaska Gov. Bill Walker gets first win.
Medicaid expansion comes to Alaska Tuesday, with the state's Supreme Court
refusing to halt it pending a lawsuit by state lawmakers. Gov. Bill Walker accepted the expansion money unilaterally after the legislature refused to take up legislation to do so this session. The Republican legislature is suing, and requested an order to halt the expansion from starting.
“The Alaska Supreme Court’s ruling today brings final assurance that thousands of working Alaskans will have access to health care tomorrow,” said Walker in a prepared statement Monday. “Medicaid expansion will save the state more than $100 million in its first six years, and save Alaskan lives.”
While the Supreme Court denied the Legislature’s motion for a temporary restraining order, which would have temporarily stopped enrollment in expanded Medicaid, the underlying lawsuit pitting the Legislature against the Walker administration still stands.
The Legislative Council, on behalf of the Legislature, sued Walker’s administration in mid-August in efforts to stop him from unilaterally expanding the health care program under the Affordable Care Act. They framed their decision, to challenge Walker, as a constitutional one. They said they needed more time to examine expansion because of the risk of future costs. The Republican-controlled House-Senate committee voted 10-1 to spend up to $450,000 on the lawsuit.
That figure is just the legislature's side of what this legal challenge is going to
cost Alaska taxpayers. Defending the suit is likely to cost the administration another $450,000. The state's attorney general, as well as the legislature's own legal department agree that Gov. Walker does have the legal authority under the state constitution to expand Medicaid.
So, thanks to the state Supreme Court, something like 40,000 Alaskans can now get coverage. They should do so fast, to make it harder to take away when this gets litigated.