Lawmakers React to State of the State, Governor’s Stance on Medicaid
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Governor Robert Bentley gave his annual State of the State address. The governor took a lot of time to talk about how he thinks Medicaid and Obamacare are hurting Alabama.
Governor Bentley has refused to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act and during his speech, Bentley blasted the program saying it’s flawed, creates dependency and would not help citizens of Alabama. Senate President Pro Tem Del Marsh says he agrees with the Governor.
“We can’t expand a program that’s not working and we know on the Medicaid side, it is taking up more of the general fund budget than ever before. It’s growing at a rate we cannot maintain.”
An estimated 300 thousand Alabamians would be covered if the governor expanded Medicaid, but Bentley says it is not his goal to have more people enrolled, but to have fewer. Lt. Governor Kay Ivey says the program is broken and would only create more financial problems.
“The governor is absolutely right about debt destroying the nation, much less the state,” she says. “And truly as a state, we can do in Alabama what we know to be is the right thing to do.”
Though some democrats say expanding Medicaid is critical.
“It would in itself create 30 thousand jobs,” says Representative Richard Lindsey. “It’s not going to cost the state of Alabama one dollar in the next three years.”
Bentley touted job creation, saying Alabama has seen remarkable job growth since he took office. The unemployment rate in Alabama sits at 6.2 percent, the lowest in the south. But House Minority leader Craig Ford says the governor needs to work on retaining jobs.
“Since he’s taken office, we’ve only had a net effect of 300 new jobs since he’s been in office,” he says. “So we’re losing as many jobs out the back door as we are gaining jobs.”
And while some applauded the governor’s vision for the future, Representative Joe Hubbard tells us he wasn’t impressed.
“I can’t tell if the governor is running for re-election or running for president,” he says. “We heard a lot of talk tonight about the state of the federal government, we heard a lot of talk about how hard things are in the state of Alabama, what we did not hear were any solutions.”
Bentley says he will also propose another two percent pay raise for teachers this year and a four percent raise for state employees. Bentley is seeking re-election and says he wants to continue to pay off the state’s debt without creating any new taxes.
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