"Congressional Republicans fired back Wednesday at the White House public relations campaign for health-care reform, highlighting concerns voiced by two Democratic governors about a possible expansion of Medicaid," The Washington Post reports. The cost of Medicaid is "already driving states to the fiscal brink."
Gov. Ted Strickland, D-Ohio, who has been supportive of health overhaul efforts, warned against the additional Medicaid costs, and Gov. John Lynch, D-N.H., is concerned enough about the costs that "that he declined last week to sign a letter from 22 Democratic governors urging Congress to finish reform this year." Quotes from the two Democratic governors "were circulated by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell's office, on the heels of a Washington Post report Wednesday about the White House's effort to line up pro-reform comments from GOP heavyweights" (Murray, 10/8).
Meanwhile, USA Today reports that support for reform among certain Republicans (including former Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson) is creating divisions in the party: "Their names carry weight. They include former Senate majority leaders Bob Dole and Bill Frist, a heart surgeon; Govs. Arnold Schwarzenegger of California and Bobby Jindal of Louisiana, a health policy expert; New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, now an independent; and Mark McClellan, former administrator of Medicare and Medicaid from 2004-06. As former Republican congressman Mickey Edwards, currently a lecturer on public affairs at Princeton, puts it: 'The grown-ups are beginning to speak up.' Their columns, interviews and statements have created a policy-vs.-politics rift inside the GOP. For months, complaints about President Obama's proposed health care changes helped drive down his poll ratings. GOP leaders outside Congress, however, say that may not be in the country's best interest" (Wolf, 10/8).