The Corbett Medicaid Climb-down Begins

Amy Worden has more on the changing politics of the Medicaid expansion:

Now the heat is coming from some of Corbett’s fellow Republicans in the state legislature.

State Rep. Gene DiGirolamo (R., Bucks) said Wednesday that he supported Medicaid expansion because it would provide health insurance for an estimated 700,000 Pennsylvanians, many in low-wage jobs.

“We should do everything possible to get this done for the state of Pennsylvania,” DiGirolamo, chairman of the Human Services Committee, said Wednesday. “Most of the people we are talking about are in the workforce making $10 to $12 an hour and have no health care.”

At the same time, a top Senate Republican said he had tasked his staff with examining Medicaid expansion costs and benefits in advance of budget negotiations in the spring.

Appropriations Committee Chairman Jake Corman (R., Centre) said that the Senate GOP caucus might take a position of its own on Medicaid expansion – he did not elaborate – and that the issue could figure into the budget process.

Between Jake Corman saying the Senate GOP might take their own position on the Medicaid expansion, Tom Corbett’s upcoming meeting with Kathleen Sebelius, and Chris Christie’s embrace of Medicaid in NJ, the Governor will have all the political cover he needs to climb down off his Medicaid position. He wants to look like he was dragged into it so that Republican voters don’t abandon him for Bruce Castor in the 2014 primary.