Scott of Florida becomes 7th GOP governor to OK Obamacare Medicaid expansion

[steve2470]

13. Florida Gov. Rick Scott supports Medicaid expansion

http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/02/20/3244176/fla-medicaid-privatization-plans.html

TALLAHASSEE -- Gov. Rick Scott said Wednesday he supports expanding Medicaid and funneling billions of federal dollars to Florida, a significant policy reversal that could bring health care coverage to 1 million additional Floridians.

“While the federal government is committed to pay 100 percent of the cost, I cannot, in good conscience, deny Floridians the needed access to health care,” Scott said at a hastily called news conference at the Governor’s Mansion.

Scott, a former hospital executive, spoke with unusual directness about helping the “poorest and weakest” Floridians — a stunning about-face for a small-government Republican who was one of the loudest voices in an aggressive, and ultimately unsuccessful, legal strategy to kill a law he derided as “Obamacare.”

Throughout his 2010 campaign for governor, as Scott sought support from tea party members, he called the law a “job-killer” that would hurt Florida.