On Wednesday, Jamie Lovegrove, a reporter for the Post And Courier covering the South Carolina primary, reported that former Vice President Joe Biden, in an attempt to woo South Carolina voters, attacked former U.N. Ambassador and South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley for refusing to expand Medicaid, appearing to start saying she “didn’t have the brains.”
Lovegrove wrote, “Biden has started criticizing @NikkiHaley more directly in South Carolina recently for declining to expand Medicaid here. In Georgetown, he appears to start saying she ‘didn’t have the brains’ before stopping himself and changing it to ‘foresight’ because he wants to ‘be polite.’”
Biden has started criticizing @NikkiHaley more directly in South Carolina recently for declining to expand Medicaid here.
In Georgetown, he appears to start saying she “didn’t have the brains” before stopping himself and changing it to “foresight” because he wants to “be polite” pic.twitter.com/xjT3Y2RL4H
— Jamie Lovegrove (@jslovegrove) February 26, 2020
Haley, getting wind of Biden’s remarks, fired back on Twitter, “Hold up, Joe. I will put my brain up against yours anytime. Bring it.”
Hold up Joe. I will put my brain up against yours anytime. Bring it. #GodBlessJoe https://t.co/x5bfrVCrCa
— Nikki Haley (@NikkiHaley) February 26, 2020
Americans for Tax Reform applauded Haley’s restraint in September 2012, writing:
South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley has joined a number of other fiscally responsible governors in making the decision to opt out of Obamacare’s mandated Medicaid expansion. As ATR previously noted, the program is already growing at an unsustainable rate in its current state: “Nationwide, Medicaid costs are growing at an unsustainable rate, with taxpayers as always being on the hook for covering the soaring tab. According to a study by the John Locke Foundation, total federal and state Medicaid spending has ballooned from $70 billion in 1990 to approximately $400 billion today- -a budget busting 571 percent increase.”
… In South Carolina, 1 in 4 citizens are receiving Medicaid, and the state simply cannot afford an additional expansion of an entitlement that is already projected to eat up more and more of the state’s budget, squeezing out funding for other priorities such as education and transportation.
ATR added, “Americans for Tax Reform urges South Carolina legislators to follow the lead of Governor Haley, who has taken a fiscally prudent position on the issue. Gov. Haley not only opposes Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion, but has also come out in support of block granting Medicaid to the states, which allows states to take control of this runaway entitlement and reform how their tax dollars are spent.”
In September 2012, Anthony Keck wrote in Health Affairs: :
This year more than 1.1 million people will enroll in South Carolina Medicaid – almost one-quarter of our population – at a total cost of $5.95 billion. According to a recent study published in Health Affairs, the state has one of the highest rates of Medicaid physician participation, largely tied to its high Medicaid reimbursement rates. Last year, while many states were cutting services, Gov. Nikki Haley and the Legislature invested $176 million of new recurring state funds in Medicaid to enroll about 65,000 low-income children through Express Lane Eligibility, replace one-time revenue with recurring sources, and expand the number of home and community-based placements available to our beneficiaries.
… when Gov. Haley says South Carolina won’t accept the expansion of Medicaid under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, she does so because she believes that its version of expansion will ultimately hurt the poor, hurt South Carolina, and hurt the country by doubling down on a system that already delivers some of the lowest value in the world.