Since the Supreme Court ruled on Obamacare last June, the White House and its allies in the media have diligently promoted the myth that the decision was an unqualified victory for the supporters of “reform.” In reality, the Supremes dealt the Obama administration an important defeat on one of the two primary issues decided, namely whether the federal government has the right to withhold all matching funds from a state that fails to expand Medicaid according to the dictates of the unpopular health care law.
Medicaid is a joint state-federal program, yet a provision of Obamacare required the withholding of all federal funds from noncompliant states. The plaintiffs argued that this was so coercive that it amounted to an unconstitutional “commandeering” of the states. Seven of the nine justices agreed. This victory, despite the Court’s ruling that the individual mandate is somehow a tax, was viewed by many as an opportunity for GOP governors to thwart implementation of an integral component of the law.
To the disgust of Obamacare’s opponents, however, eight GOP governors have nonetheless decided to comply with the law’s Medicaid provision. Arizona’s Jan Brewer, Florida’s Rick Scott, Michigan’s Rick Snyder, Nevada’s Brian Sandoval, New Jersey’s Chris Christie, New Mexico’s Susana Martinez, North Dakota’s Jack Dalrymple, and Ohio’s John Kasich have all caved. Even worse, several of these people have been vocal opponents of Obamacare and govern states that participated in the lawsuit that produced the Court’s favorable ruling.
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