Flipping the Script on Medicaid

There's been some interesting protestations from many of my colleagues about reports that Governor McAuliffe may be interested in pursuing an administrative expansion of Virginia's Medicaid program without a vote from the legislature.

• “I don’t believe that he has that authority,” said Del. S. Chris Jones (R-Suffolk).  Washington Post.
• “You see President Obama certainly using executive orders, executive fiat, to delay [portions of] the Affordable Care Act, and you’re seeing the same thing with the attorney general and the governor, with these vague statements,” said House Majority Leader M. Kirkland Cox (R-Colonial Heights). “He certainly looks like he’s going to go down this road of using executive orders.”  Washington Post.
• Matthew Moran, spokesman for House Speaker Bill Howell, told Watchdog: “We firmly believe that the authority to expand Medicaid rests with the Medicaid Innovation and Reform Commission, not with the governor.”  Watchdog.org

Given their statements, you would think that Governor McAuliffe was the first person to assert this power.

Interestingly, Governor McDonnell took the position that he and only he had the authority to expand Medicaid - even after the creation of the Medicaid Innovation and Review Commission.  On March 5, 2013, Governor McDonnell wrote the following to Health & Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.  

What a difference a new Governor makes.