Arizona Passes Obamacare Because Brewer Slams Tea Party

Despite expressing distaste for the new law, some GOP governors have endorsed an expansion of Medicaid, and three — Jan Brewer of Arizona, John Kasich of Ohio and Rick Snyder of Michigan — are trying to persuade their Republican-controlled legislatures to go along.

CNN) - The expansion of Medicaid included in President Barack Obama's sweeping health care law was accepted by an eighth Republican governor Tuesday, despite the GOP's fierce opposition to the law as a whole.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, explaining he was aiming to put "people first," announced his support for the expansion of Medicaid as he outlined his budget in front of the New Jersey state legislature.

He becomes the eighth GOP governor to sign on to the plan, which has also been rejected by some high-profile state chief executives still at odds with the politically charged law known as Obamacare. Many Republicans view parts of the bill, including its individual requirement to obtain health insurance, as government overreach.

Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) became the fifth Republican to endorse the comprehensive immigration reform bill that the Senate began considering on Sunday, telling CBS’ Face The Nation that the measure is a “thoughtful bipartisan solution to a tough problem.” She predicted that Republicans won’t filibuster the legislation, dealing a blow to Sens. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Mike Lee (R-UT), who are seeking to undermine the effort.

The first-term senator specifically praised the bill’s border security provisions, which some Republicans seek to bolster before the nation’s 11 million undocumented immigrants can obtain legal status, but wrote in a separate editorial that she would “support strengthening the legislation’s border security measures even further.”

“I looked at the border security provisions, the E-Verify to make sure we control who’s getting a job in this country, and also making sure that there’s a better legal immigration system, bring the high-tech workers here to make sure that we can have the best and the brightest here in this country to grow our economy,” Ayotte told host Bob Schieffer. “This is a good bipartisan solution and I look forward to supporting it.”

In May, three Republicans — Sens. Orrin Hatch (R-UT), Jeff Flake (R-AZ), and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) — voted to advance the bill out of the Senate Judiciary committee, which also has the support of Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL).

Honestly, the last place I'd expect common sense to prevail.

As Republicans prepare to hold more votes to undermine the Affordable Care Act, a top Tea Party senator on Monday admitted that the GOP will face political backlash if it tries to undo the popular elements of reform that have already gone into effect.

Appearing on Fox and Friends, Lee stressed that with no legislative replacement for the law, Republicans are only trying to stop “further enforcement and implementation of Obamacare.” “So we’re not talking about those things [that have gone int effect], we’re talking about those that haven’t kicked in yet,” he stressed, adding that a small group of conservative lawmakers have committed to voting against any additional funding for the law. “We’re talking about the individual mandate, the exchanges, the exchange subsidies and so forth.

Almost a million young people have become insured by enrolling in their parents’ plans and millions have received rebates from insurers that are now required to spend a greater percentage of enrollee premiums on health care services. Seniors have benefited from the closing of the Medicare prescription drug doughnut hole and others still are taking advantage of preventive health benefits at no additional cost.

Lee is now admitting (he had urged complete repeal as recently as March) that those benefits are here to stay and that the GOP’s only chance of undoing the measure is to go after the parts of the law that are still outstanding. But with the exchanges set to open up for enrollment on October 1 and coverage to follow in January, that window of opportunity, as the Republicans see it, is closing fast. As one White House official told ThinkProgress during a meeting with progressive reporters earlier this month, as individuals visit the online portals — either because they are uninsured and want to purchase coverage or are merely curious about “Obamacare” — they will likely tune out the political noise and become engaged in a deeply personal consumer experience. By then, the chances of repeal or delay may dwindle even further.

Americans aren’t ready to repeal Obamacare. But that doesn’t mean they think its implementation is going well.

A majority of adults don’t want to repeal the Affordable Care Act, according to the latest United Technologies/National Journal Congressional Connection Poll, preferring instead to either spend more on its implementation or wait to see if changes are needed later.

But based on recent news that the White House is delaying its employer health insurance mandate, the public appears convinced that the law’s implementation is going poorly. A majority of Americans say the one-year delay is a sign the White House is ill-prepared for a law already facing mounting problems; only slightly more than one-third of adults say putting off the requirement shows the president wants to make sure implementation goes smoothly.

The results are a mixed bag for Republicans, who argue that the law’s potentially messy effects will revive it as a political force in next year’s midterm elections. At a minimum, the results show voters are skeptical that the process, which even many supporters acknowledge is fraught with risk, is going well. That doesn’t necessarily mean Affordable Care Act will be at the front of their minds in 2014, but it does reveal widespread pessimism about the White House’s handling of it.

But opposition to the outright repeal also complicates efforts for Republicans, who thus far have failed to articulate what should replace Obamacare. Last week, following the news that the employer mandate was being delayed, the House GOP voted for the 39th time to dismantle the health care law.

Given the choice to either repeal the law, wait and see how it takes effect, or add money to aid its implementation, only 36 percent of adults picked outright repeal. More than half chose to either wait and see (30 percent) or provide more money (27 percent).