Maine is expected to become the 32nd state to expand Medicaid under Obamacare, becoming the first state in the nation to expand it through a ballot initiative. The vote may reverberate through other holdout states that could use the ballot box as a way to expand the program that provides healthcare coverage for those with low incomes. It also comes a few months after Congress failed to repeal Obamacare and the law’s Medicaid expansion.
Republican Gov. Paul LePage previously vetoed expansion efforts five times, arguing they would be too costly for the state. While the federal government picks up the first three years of the expansion, it gradually shrinks to 90 percent and calls for the state to start picking up the remaining cost.
The Medicaid expansion is expected to benefit around 80,000 people in the state.
Other results could impact whether more states decide to expand Medicaid under Obamacare.
Virginia Democrats retained the governor’s mansion with Lieutenant Gov. Ralph Northam beating Republican Ed Gillespie. The party is also within grasp of taking control of the state House, but the GOP still holds a two-seat majority in the state Senate.
Current Gov. Terry McAuliffe’s Medicaid expansion efforts were stymied in the Republican-led legislature.
The victory comes a few months after the U.S. Senate narrowly defeated several bills aimed at repealing Obamacare.
A key concern among centrists such as Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, whose state expanded Medicaid, was the impact of rolling back the law and installing several reforms such as per capita caps.
Murkowski joined Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and John McCain, R-Ariz., in late July to defeat a “skinny” repeal bill that only rolled back certain parts of the healthcare law but left the Medicaid expansion intact.
Another last-ditch effort by GOP leaders was pulled in September after too many Republican senators defected.
