Here is the story as reported by Robert Pear of the New York Times. Scott now joins 6 other Republican governors who have decided to accept the Federal Government’s subsidies to expand Medicaid in their states. A massive expansion of Medicaid was a cornerstone the Affordable Care Act to cover more of the low income population with Health coverage. The Supreme Court ruled that the states have the option of rejecting the Medicaid expansion subsidy without losing ALL of their Medicaid funding which was initially the hammer to force Medicaid expansion.
The downside of accepting the expansion is that the federal subsidies decline over time, leaving the states with more financial responsibility to fund the expansion going forward. In the early years, the federal subsidy is extremely generous, which makes it difficult turn down. Currently, there are 22 states who have accepted the subsidy, 17 who have rejected it and 11 who are undecided.
