Maine just resoundingly became the first state to expand Medicaid by ballot initiative
Source: WA Post
Less than two months after Republicans' latest effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act imploded, a purple state just made a decidedly blue-state move to essentially expand Obamacare.
On Tuesday, Maine became the first state to expand Medicaid with a ballot initiative. And it passed overwhelmingly: Maine voters agreed to grant health care to an estimated 70,000 low-income residents by a nearly 20-percentage point margin by the time the measure was called by election watchers. In other words, a sizable number of voters in Maine just voted to do the exact opposite of what the state's Republican governor and Republicans in Washington have been trying to do.
Maine Gov. Paul LePage vetoed a bipartisan legislative deal to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act at least five times. Since Republicans took control of Washington in January, they've spent more than half the year trying to repeal Obamacare with proposals that would have drastically cut Medicaid. But Maine's Sen. Susan Collins (R) was one of the defining no votes that ultimately ended the GOP efforts, saying the plans would pull the rug out from too many in her state.
What happened in Maine could provide momentum for progressives to get voters in other states to expand Medicaid, such as Alaska and Idaho, where groups have already started similar Medicaid expansion ballot initiatives next year
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2017/11/07/maine-could-become-the-first-state-to-expand-medicaid-by-ballot-initiative/?utm_term=.f36584d8dc6c
Hayduke Bomgarte
(1,965 posts)Gov. Paul LePuke is apoplectic
At least I like to imagine it.
mdbl
(4,976 posts)to circumvent what the voters told him to do. I wouldn't be surprised if he breaks the law doing it. Typical repuglican.
burrowowl
(17,656 posts)hibbing
(10,113 posts)I don't want to get too excited about tonight because we all know that the other side will use all kinds of nefarious means to suppress the vote, but I do have a little hope restored.
Peace
Honeycombe8
(37,648 posts)A resounding rejection of all that's been going on all year. Including health care.
SergeStorms
(19,205 posts)The people of Maine have overwhelmingly decided to take care of their own. The politicians in Maine had better change their outlook on life if they want to remain politicians in Maine.
Hooray for Maine! Empathy wins out over greed and malice. Way to go!
pnwmom
(109,024 posts)They oppose universal healthcare at their peril!
SergeStorms
(19,205 posts)is going to knock a lot of Republicans off the fence, which is where they've been sitting, trying to decide if Trump's gravitational pull is enough to redefine what 'Republican' means. I think yesterday's results will wake them up and assure them that Trump's "revolution" is nothing more than a flash in the pan. People just don't want what Trump's selling. He was the protest vote in 2016, and now they see what happens when you waste your vote on an inexperienced egomaniac.
Ghost of Tom Joad
(1,356 posts)They need to be reminded that Hillary won by almost 3 million votes. TV pundits never seem to remember that fact.
SergeStorms
(19,205 posts)make their living by prolonging controversy. They keep stirring the ashes, hoping to ignite another dying ember. Jerks.
Love your screen name, by the way. The Grapes of Wrath is one of my all-time favorite movies. It's timeless.
sab390
(185 posts)The opening scene of the truck ride is so tense. When he gets out and says "homicide". One of the great American antiheros. And the greatest stories of redemption.
bagelsforbreakfast
(1,427 posts)Ukapau
(78 posts)is high, high on the list for anyone with a beating heart and a sense of empathy!
I am hopeful this will spread to more and more states.
sandensea
(21,717 posts)From what I've seen, Baron Harkonnen will pull anything - including third world-style decrees - to get his way.
lagomorph777
(30,613 posts)beachbum bob
(10,437 posts)medicaid "expansion", there is cost to any state sooner or later