The State of Arizona will expand Medicaid next year after Governor Jan Brewer gained ground pushing through her own party's opposition and passing a bipartisan piece of legislation that reflects much of President Barack Obama's agenda.
Nearly 300,000 of the state's poor residents will be able to take advantage of the Medicaid program that will be offered starting in 2014, the Huffington Post reported.
This coming after a long battle when, in January, Brewer - traditionally a harsh critic of President Obama's policies - announced her support for the Medicaid expansion but faced vehement resistance from fellow state Republicans.
But many feel this move is a strategic maneuver on the part of Brewer to hurt any significant advancement of the effects of The Affordable Care Act. By expanding this type of entitlement program to Arizona's low-income population, chances of aligning Obamacare with the state will be unlikely, according to POLITICO.
"As an elected official of more than 30 years, I know that this process was not easy or without political risk," Brewer said in a statement. "By joining me in extending health coverage to hundreds of thousands of Arizonans, legislators of my own party have come under sharp criticism in some quarters. Some have had threats made not just against their political future but also their personal livelihood."
Many Obama supporters are favoring Brewer's work to expand Medicaid, and expressed that she has not let her anti-Obama sentiment overpower her governing capabilities, and is executing the plan that is, in essence, the lesser of two evils for conservatives and the people of the state.
"As chief executive of Arizona, Gov. Brewer understands the importance of Medicaid expansion for residents in her state, and she stood firm in her call for its legislative approval," the head of Families USA, Ron Pollack, told POLITICO. "Brewer's foresight and fortitude stand in marked contrast to the actions of some other Republican governors, who may well understand the value of the Medicaid expansion to the health and well-being of their states but who succumb to the rigid ideology."
