A recent analysis of five Democrats running for Governor across the country in close elections finds them promising major expansions of Obamacare if they are elected, showing that not all Democrats are running away from the President’s signature takeover of the nation’s healthcare.
In national polls, Obamacare is underwater and sits at record low approval numbers. This is causing most Democrat candidates across the country to run away from Obamacare.
But Democrat candidates for governor in Florida, Maine, Kansas, Wisconsin, and Georgia are all angling for big Obamacare expansions, according to The Hill. If they win and fulfill their campaign promises, the consequence would be a major hike of up to $120 billion in federal spending, according to one estimate.
This drive for expansion comes in the face of the years of outright falsities President Obama delivered to the nation, saying that we could keep our doctors and insurance plans if we liked them, claims that have had a direct impact on the law’s dismal approval ratings.
But that dismal approval isn’t deterring the five Democrat candidates for governor.
Charlie Crist, Florida’s one-time Republican governor who is now running as a Democrat, recently noted that illegal immigrants should be allowed to enroll in Obamacare, and those who already have should not be removed from the rolls.
Maine’s Democratic candidate, Mike Michaud, is running in support of the President’s healthcare law.
“The only thing stopping us from being able to expand access to care is one man: Gov. LePage,” Michaud’s spokesperson recent said.
In Georgia, Democrat Jason Carter insists that Georgia’s incumbent Republican Governor, Nathan Deal, is leaving state money behind by turning away Medicaid expansion. “It’s our money, and Nathan Deal wants Washington to keep it,” Carter said.
In April, Wisconsin Democrat Mary Burke proclaimed her “unequivocal support” of Obamacare on MSNBC. But only hours later, she hedged her bets in an interview with a Wisconsin newspaper and said that Obamacare “has its problems.”
Burke, though, is still a supporter of a massive expansion of Medicaid.
Finally, Kansas Democrat Paul Davis has frequently criticized Kansas incumbent Republican Sam Brownback for refusing to expand Medicaid. Davis has said that Brownback is putting politics above the needs of the people of Kansas with his opposition to Obamacare.
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston or email the author at igcolonel@hotmail.com