This is a victory for hard-working, low-income Michiganders, and everyone who advocated on their behalf.
It would be tempting to gloat, just imagining the tears of the zealots who fought so hard to deprive nearly 500,000 Michigan residents of access to health insurance.
But instead, I’ll just say THANK YOU. To every organization, citizen and legislator who took action to make this happen. Every rally, phone call, email and letter made a difference. A majority of Michigan legislators put their party politics aside and did what was best for Michigan and its residents.
I did not expect to be posting this happy news quite so soon. In fact, I wasn’t sure I’d be posting it at all, and I stand by everything I said about Sen. Patrick Colbeck. It’s extremists like him who are hurting Michigan and we need to fight against every one of them who is up for re-election in 2014.
The Medicaid expansion bill now returns to the House for concurrence (with a vote expected September 3) and there’s still work to be done to get the necessary waivers approved by the federal government. The fact that the Senate did not include immediate effect on the bill could cause implementation delays.
It’s not perfect, but it’s going to help nearly half a million Michiganders. And there’s no doubt this bill will become law with the signature of Governor Rick Snyder, given his consistent, full-throated support.
Most important, what was accomplished with the passage of Medicaid expansion proves that the good people of Michigan can do anything they put their minds to.
Congratulations to all on a job well done.
