Indiana Gov. Mike Pence is visiting Washington this week to meet with Secretary of Health and Human Services Sylvia Burwell to discuss the state’s proposal to expand Medicaid. But it may be better for his political future if HHS rejects his proposal.
Pence has been mentioned as a possible contender for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination. As a candidate, he would offer a blend of state-level executive experience and national service in the House of Representatives. A problem, however, is though he was once the darling on the right for his solidly conservative voting record in the House, he has come under fire among conservatives for his record as governor, most notably, for his backing of Common Core-style education policies and for his proposal to expand Medicaid through President Obama’s healthcare law.
Though Pence insists that his proposal to expand Medicaid with a program known as the Healthy Indiana Plan is a market-based solution, conservative critics point out that at the end of the day it still represents an expansion of government-run healthcare. If he has any interest in seeking the GOP nomination, his Medicaid plan — and the perception that he embraced a key tenet of Obamacare by pushing it — would become a major line of attack. But he may have an out.
On Thursday, Pence wrote a letter to Obama in which he requested a meeting to talk about the status of his proposal. In the letter, Pence made clear that he was prepared to walk away.
“I have been made aware that issues have arisen in my administration’s ongoing discussion with HHS that threaten to compromise the Healthy Indiana Plan’s effectiveness,” Pence wrote to Obama. “Our administration will not support efforts to remove or water down the Healthy Indiana Plan’s core principles, essentially changing this proven program into an expansion of traditional Medicaid.”
Pence said that in his meeting with Burwell, he would “make clear our expectation that the State of Indiana must retain the necessary flexibility to support any expansion of the Healthy Indiana Plan. …”
If HHS does not meet his terms, it’s pretty clear what Pence’s strategy would be if he were to run for president in 2016. If he were attacked for supporting the Medicaid expansion, he’d say he proposed a market-based alternative, and when the Obama administration wouldn’t agree to it, he backed out.
Supreme Court’s second crack at Obamacare
On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court will begin a new term, and the justices have a chance to take another look at Obama’s healthcare law.
Opponents of Obamacare received a boost last week when a federal judge in Oklahoma sided with state Attorney General Scott Pruitt in one of several cases arguing that the plain text interpretation of Obamacare is that its insurance subsidies are restricted to people living in states that established their own exchanges. This interpretation would make it illegal for subsidies to be given to residents of 36 states that defaulted to the federal exchange.
Previously, a majority of a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit also ruled in favor of those challenging the administration’s interpretation of the statute, yet that case will be reheard by the full D.C. appeals court.
The Supreme Court has an opportunity to intervene before then, however, because challengers of the federal exchange subsidies who lost to the administration in the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals asked the justices to consider their similar case.
