Governor Rick Snyder has said he doesn’t expect a vote next week to expand Medicaid in Michigan.
As The Michigan Public Radio Network’s Jake Neher reports, the governor is traveling the state trying to pressure lawmakers to act on the bill.
Governor Snyder wanted the state Senate to approve the Medicaid expansion last week before it adjourned for the summer. Then he said he wanted a vote on July 3rd – the next day the Senate could meet. Now he says a vote absolutely has to happen before fall.
Starting January 1st, the state would lose out on millions of federal dollars each the expansion is not in place. And Snyder says it will take months to get the state’s proposal approved.
“You can’t go through that approval process until you have the legislation signed and in law,” he says.
This week, Senate Majority Leader Randy Richardville announced a workgroup made up of Republican state Senators to get the bill ready for a vote. Snyder says that’s a step in the right direction.