Opposition to Medicaid Expansion: The Next GOP Litmus Test?

Here in Virginia the Republican Party of Virginia - the self-avowed party of "family values" and "Christian values" - is dead set against Medicaid expansion even though it would bring billions of federal dollars to Virginia, create tens of thousands of medical field jobs, and bring health coverage to 400,000 Virginians.  Why the opposition?  The truth - something the GOP likes to avoid - is that the Christofascists/Tea Party base believes those gaining coverage are "those people."  Meaning, blacks and minorities.  Adding to the opposition, but not the major cause is contraception and limited abortion coverage that might be included in medical care for the poor.  As for the 400,000 Virginians in need, the GOP answer is please just go somewhere and quietly die.  Yep, truly godly people.  A column in the Washington Post suggests that such opposition is a growing litmus test in the GOP.  Here are excerpts:

The other day, Republican businessman Vance McAllister defeated a fellow GOPer in a Louisiana House special election, even though he supports the Medicaid expansion, which is of course a feature of the hated Obamacare. While there’s some argument as to how much the expansion meant to the outcome, McAllister’s willingness to embrace the idea of accommodating a part of the health law to bring in federal money suggests something of a schism between pragmatic and ideological Republicans over the issue.

Now the Daily Caller’s Matt Lewis reports that opposition to the Medicaid expansion is set to become a major litmus test issue in GOP primaries:

The issue is now making its way into Idaho’s Second Congressional District —  in what is shaping up to be a brutal primary between Rep. Mike Simpson and  a conservative challenger named Bryan Smith.

In a press release earlier today, The Club for Growth, a powerful fiscally  conservative group,  pointed out that a Super Pac backing Simpson has also endorsed expansion. (It’s not clear where  Simpson stands on the issue, and that’s sort of the point.)

If Idaho is a harbinger of things to come, expect Medicaid expansion to be a  huge issue in Republican primaries — a sort of litmus test for true conservatives.

Meanwhile, House conservatives are beginning to hatch a new strategy for the coming budget talks that would involve pushing for a defunding of the law’s Medicaid expansion, and using the money to offset the sequester’s defense cuts. Though this idea seems to have very little support, it’s not impossible it could gain some momentum.

And in Tennessee, the Republican governor is coming under increasing pressure from local business interests who want him to embrace the Medicaid expansion. He is caught between GOP lawmakers who oppose the expansion, and hospital groups and the local chamber of commerce, who want it.

Democrats increasingly believe that, at a time when the law known as “Obamacare” is suffering serious rollout travails and is sinking in polls, the Medicaid expansion is a good issue for them — one that neatly shows that some of the individual provisions of the law remain politically viable, and as an added bonus could even divide Republicans. Obamacare’s expansion of coverage is most pronounced in the Medicaid expansion area, which could make it politically more difficult over time for Republicans to oppose it — even as conservatives appear poised to continue making opposition to it a defining issue. Whether this emerges as a real wedge among Republicans will be something to keep watching.

 Sadly, the image at the top of this post really does accurately describe today's Republican Party.  The metastasizing cancer in the party - the hate-filled Christofascists - is now nearly complete.