February 14, 2020/Press

FLIP FLOP: Jon Hardister Still Can’t Pick a Medicaid Position, Says Budget Veto Ambush “Was Right Thing to Do.”

Raleigh – House Republican Whip Jon Hardister, who famously flip flopped on his own Medicaid expansion compromise bill last year, still doesn’t know how the state should proceed but remains “philosophically opposed” to expansion, according to a new WXII segment.  

Hardister said North Carolina “should hit the breaks” on expansion due to his concerns about work requirement related lawsuits filed in other states. Work requirements have been struck down as unconstitutional because they hurt recipients who are already trying to find work by adding a layer of bureaucratic uncertainty to the program, ultimately denying people coverage. Hardister could avoid similar lawsuits in North Carolina by rejecting a work requirement for our state’s Medicaid Expansion compromise and advocating for a clean expansion bill. His meandering “yes, no, maybe” position, however, only goes to show that even Republicans understand that opposition to Medicaid expansion is toxic with voters.

Watch the interview here:

 

In addition to his half-hearted attempts to explain away his decision to turn against his own bill, Hardister also said that the Republican veto override ambush on 9/11 “was the right thing to do.” Hardister apparently thinks lying to the public by telling reporters and the opposition party “no votes at 830” is the “right thing to do.”

Of course we saw the reality: that Republicans intentionally held the vote with barely half of House lawmakers present and “more legislators off the floor for a vote since 2010.” Republicans held the deceptive vote while ignoring Democrats’ objections and turning off their microphones.

“Jon Hardister’s painful waffling on Medicaid expansion reveals that even North Carolina Republicans understand that they’re rigid opposition is toxic with voters,” NCDP Executive Director Meredith Cuomo said. “Hardister’s massive flip flop on one of voters’ top issues will haunt him and the entire Republican ticket in November.”

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

WXII12: Hardister changes view on Medicaid expansion
By Bill O’Neil
February 12, 2020

  • Hardister says lawsuits filed in other states against a work requirement linked to Medicaid Expansion is somenting North Carolina republicans want and convinced him to change his mind.
  • [Hardiser] blames a miscommunication between the two parties.

#TBT The Hill: Medicaid expansion improved health in Southern states: Study
By Peter Sullivan
January 7, 2020

  • A new study finds that Medicaid expansion improved people’s health in Southern states, resulting in fewer declines in people’s health.
  • The study published in Health Affairs finds that Medicaid expansion made declines in health status 1.8 percentage points less likely in states that expanded the medical coverage.
  • It examined 12 Southern states, including those that have accepted the expansion of Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, like Kentucky, West Virginia, Arkansas and Louisiana, and those that have not, like Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee.
  • “We found that Medicaid expansion was associated with lower rates of self-reported health declines and a higher likelihood of maintaining baseline health status over time,” the study finds.
  • Resistance to Medicaid expansion has been declining, with multiple red states accepting the expansion in recent years, often through ballot initiatives that put the question to voters in the state.

Read coverage of the Republican vote ambush on September 11, 2019:

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