//A new Democratic plan to expand Medicaid hits a big snag: Republican governors

A new Democratic plan to expand Medicaid hits a big snag: Republican governors

Democrats in Congress have tried to create a new funding incentive in their Covid-19 stimulus bill for states to expand Medicaid. But GOP state leaders don’t sound interested. | Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images

The Covid-19 stimulus bill isn’t going to fix the Medicaid expansion gap.

As part of their Covid-19 stimulus bill, Democrats are trying to cut a deal with Republican-led states to plug one of the biggest holes in Obamacare: the so-called Medicaid expansion gap.

But conservative state officials don’t sound interested in taking it. Based on an informal survey of the states yet to expand Medicaid, the provision in the stimulus bill that provides increased funding for states that expand the program now may end up having no effect at all. That would mean millions of people in poverty remaining uninsured.

Medicaid expansion is the unfinished work of the Affordable