A Wave Election for Health-Care Reform
Red-state voters grew tired of waiting for their legislatures to expand access to insurance.
Utah wants more Medicaid.
Photographer: George Frey/Getty ImagesAfter an election campaign centered largely on health care, voters delivered their most emphatic message on the issue — not to Congress, but to the governments of red states. Expand Medicaid to cover a bigger share of the low-income population.
For years, the people of Idaho, Utah and Nebraska watched their legislatures stubbornly refuse to widen Medicaid coverage as Obamacare proposed — forfeiting, in the process, billions in federal aid. On Tuesday, they took matters into their own hands, passing ballot initiatives to end the nonsense. In three more states — Maine, Kansas and Wisconsin — voters elected Democratic governors who promised to push for the same.