As of November 02, 2017, the House had considered exactly 100 resolutions to repeal, deauthorize, defund, or otherwise destroy the Affordable Care Act. 9 Democrats— all Blue Dogs who were subsequently driven out of office— joined scores of Republicans in the efforts. One of the Democrats was Mike McIntyre of North Carolina. Not counting McIntyre, Members of Congress (Republicans) from North Carolina have cumulative sponsored or co-sponsored 68 of those bill. The last time the House voted to repeal the Affordable Care Act was on May 4, 2017. It passed by a narrow margin (217-213). Every single Democrat plus 20 Republicans voted against repealing it. One Republican, Walter Jones, who had co-sponsored 2 dozen repeals , was the only North Carolina Republican to vote against repeal that time. Ultimately, squabbling and bickering among Senate Republicans killed the bill, the last serious attempt at repeal.
Generations of North Carolina Republicans have worked to defeat Obamacare, many of whom are no longer in Congress, and at least one of whom is dead. They would have all been surprised yesterday when the state’s huge majority in the gerrymandered state legislature (30 Republicans to 20 Democrats in the state Senate and 71 Republicans and 49 Democrats in the state House) agreed to a Medicaid expansion deal that will bring health care to hundreds of thousands of low-income North Carolinians.
Right after the deal, the Associated Press reported that "North Carolina is one of several Republican-led states that have begun considering expanding Medicaid after years of steadfast opposition. Voters in South Dakota approved expansion in a referendum in November. And in Alabama, advocates are urging lawmakers to take advantage of federal incentives to expand Medicaid in order to provide health insurance to more working people. When Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper, a longtime expansion advocate, signs the bill, it should leave 10 states in the U.S. that haven’t adopted expansion. North Carolina has 2.9 million enrollees in traditional Medicaid coverage. Advocates have estimated that expansion could help 600,000 adults."
…The House voted 87-24 in favor of the deal, after little debate and a preliminary vote on Wednesday. Many Democratic members on the floor stood and clapped after it passed, which is usually not permitted under chamber rules. Almost two-thirds of the House Republicans also voted yes. The Senate already approved the legislation last week in near-unanimous votes.
…Republicans in charge of the General Assembly for years had been skeptical about expansion, which originated from the federal Affordable Care Act signed into law by President Barack Obama 13 years ago Thursday.
GOP legislators passed a law in 2013 specifically preventing a governor’s administration from seeking expansion without express approval by the General Assembly. But interest in expansion grew over the past year as lawmakers concluded that Congress was neither likely to repeal the law nor raise the low 10% state match that coverage requires.
A financial sweetener contained in a COVID-19 recovery law means North Carolina also would get an estimated extra $1.75 billion in cash over two years if it expands Medicaid. Legislators hope to use much of that money on mental health services.
A turning point came last May when Senate leader Phil Berger, a longtime expansion opponent, publicly explained his reversal, which was based largely on fiscal terms.
In a news conference, Berger also described the situation faced by a single mother who didn’t make enough money to cover insurance for both her and her children, which he said meant that she would either end up in the emergency room or not get care. Expansion covers people who make too much money for conventional Medicaid but not enough to benefit from heavily subsidized private insurance.
“We need coverage in North Carolina for the working poor,” Berger said at the time.
The only states that have not passed Medicaid expansion are states where Republican majorities want poor citizens to die quickly:
Florida
Texas
Mississippi
Tennessee
Wisconsin
Wyoming
South Carolina
Georgia
Alabama
Kansas
Yesterday and today North Carolina’s current members of Congress— Greg Murphy, Virginia Foxx, David Rouzer, Dan Bishop, Richard Hudson, Patrick McHenry, Chuck Edwards— were all refusing to comment about the agreement. All are on the record opposing Medicaid expansion and many of them are on the record in favor of shrinking or abolishing Medicaid and Medicare.
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