New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie will agree to expand the state’s Medicaid program under Obamacare on Tuesday.
According to the Newark, NJ-based Star-Ledger, Christie will announce the expansion when he unveils the governor’s new budget in a 3 p.m. speech to a joint session of New Jersey’s Legislature on Tuesday.
Christie joins Florida’s Rick Scott and Virginia’s Bob McDonnell as two Republican governors who have completely reversed course on the issue after rejecting addition Medicaid funds.
As recently as last summer, Christie had suggested that he would refuse the Medicaid expansion. As he told Fox & Friends in July: “Medicaid is pretty well expanded in our state already because of the legacy of previous Democratic governors. So, I don’t think there’s a lot for us to do in New Jersey in that regard.”
Likewise, McDonnell had said in July: “Expanding Medicaid without fixing Medicaid is a terrible idea.”
Christie and McDonnell were both elected in 2009 in the first wave of Tea Party-supported Republican campaigns. McDonnell is leaving office after this year; Christie is widely favored to win re-election.
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