FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Governors in Kansas and Texas say they will join Florida Gov. Rick Scott’s lawsuit against the Obama Administration, alleging that federal officials are coercing the state to expand Medicaid in order to get $1 billion in federal hospital funds.
Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback said Monday he plans to file an amicus brief in a fight to protect states’ right to make their own decisions. Scott said Monday that he’d talked with Gov. Greg Abbott, who also pledged support.
The Republican governors point to a 2012 U.S. Supreme Court decision saying the federal government can’t coerce states to expand Medicaid, which is exactly what he says the Obama Administration is doing by withholding hospital funds.
The Obama Administration says it’s more efficient to give people money to help buy health insurance than to pay hospitals for caring for the uninsured retroactively. (AP)
