In a closely watched and controversial decision, Gov. Sean Parnell announced Friday that Alaska will not participate in Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act, describing it at a news conference as a "failed experiment."
Expansion would have benefited 40,000 or more Alaskans, many of them low-income adults without children who currently have no health insurance. It also would have helped hospitals and doctors by reducing the amount of uncompensated care they have to write off and would have brought billions of federal dollars into the Alaska economy.
But Parnell, a Republican running for reelection next year, described it as one of many troubled parts of health-care reform.
"I believe a costly Medicaid expansion especially on top of the broken Obamacare system is a hot mess," Parnell told reporters at a news conference in Anchorage called to announce his decision.
A range of groups and individuals -- including chambers of commerce, Alaska Native organizations, churches and leading Democrats -- had pushed for the change and reacted on Friday with disappointment, frustration and sharp criticism for the governor. But others including right-wing think tanks, had argued against it. Some Republican legislators praised the governor, saying extending the health coverage would have been far too expensive for Alaska and the country.
