It’s official. Barack Obama will begin doling out the almost $15B portion of the economic stimulus package to states in the form of expanded Medicaid benefits. It is clear what his intentions are: jumpstarting the healthcare economic sector for states who wish to participate. According to the president, this includes, in part,  imporoved healthcare access for the newly unemployed and those partially covered under COBRA. 

Beyond aid to the states, the federal stimulus plan includes tax cuts, increased unemployment benefits and food stamps, and health insurance aid for the poor and jobless.

What’s not quite as clear is how Republican governors of states which stand to benefit from the healthcare stimulus package will react, especially if a source of revenue (read: higher taxes on employers to compensate, for example) is needed once those individual states’ stimulus amounts run dry. | LINK

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