States Fight Back Against Reform

Arizona, California, New Jersey, New York and other states that provide expanded health care to their residents are fighting back against the Senate's health-care bill, which they say makes them subsidize states that are not as generous with their care. The bill passed Thursday will expand Medicaid, but the roughly 20 states that have already expanded coverage will pay a greater proportion of new Medicaid costs than other states, mostly in the South, that do not provide expanded care. “We are, in a sense, being punished for our own charity,” New York Governor David Paterson said last week. In Arizona, the governor ordered the state to stop accepting applicants to its children's insurance program last week. Its share of Medicaid will be $17 billion under the Senate bill. If Arizona hadn't expanded Medicaid, its share would have been $1.4 billion.