A new Reuters report suggests several Republican presidential hopefuls have outwardly opposed the establishment of the Affordable Care Act, while applying for and winning at least $352 million through grant programs set up under the law for their states.
According to Reuters, Governors Scott Walker, Chris Christie, Bobby Jindal and Rick Perry have publicy supported dismantling the ACA and do not see their actions as hypocritical.
Indeed, the money comes from portions of the law that enhance public health and other “nuts and bolts” programs, such as the $1.5 billion provision to enable medical workers to visit new mothers at home. Wisconsin, for example, has more than doubled its home-visit program under these provisions.
“It’s critically important that we continue these services for our citizens,” said Laurel Patrick, a spokesperson for Scott Walker. “Receiving federal grants that existed prior to the ACA is not the same participating in the core elements of the ACA.”
Walker and other Republicans are more concerned with dismantling the portions of the ACA that establish state and federal insurance exchanges, expands portions of the Medicaid program and promise government subsidies for applicants.
Walker called the ACA an “abysmal failure,” while Perry termed it an “abomination.” Jindal has gone so far as to say “we must repeal every single word of Obamacare.”
Others are not so quick to accept this explanation, however, describing the White House hopefuls’ acceptance of grant money as “hypocrisy.”
“There’s a lot of hypocrisy when it comes to some Republicans and Obamacare,” Greg Valliere, a political adviser to Wall Street clients, told Reuters. “As my father used to say: ‘Do as I say, not as I do.’”
The federal government accounts for roughly one in three dollars of state revenue, according to the report, and the ACA provides $10 billion for public health and $425 million to train nurses and other healthcare workers.
Walker, Jindal, Perry and Christie have not been clear over whether they would seek to axe these programs as president.
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