CHANGE OF HEART

Tennessee’s GOP Guv to Expand Medicaid

At the heart of Obamacare.

Bill Haslam, the Republican governor of Tennessee, said Monday he would expand the state’s Medicaid program under the Affordable Care Act to provide coverage for tens of thousands of residents without health insurance. The two-year pilot program, Insure Tennessee, will be supported by federal funds and may actually receive support from the state’s Republican-led legislature, which has been traditionally resistant to anything resembling Obamacare. “We made the decision in Tennessee nearly two years ago not to expand traditional Medicaid,” Haslam said. “This is an alternative approach that forges a different path and is a unique Tennessee solution. Our approach is responsible and reasonable.”