Governor Rick Snyder has he doesn’t expect a vote next week to expand Medicaid in Michigan.
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 3 – the next day the Senate could meet.
Now he says a vote absolutely has to happen before fall.
Starting January 1, the state would lose out on millions of federal dollars for every day 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,” Snyder said.
“That’s why I want to get it done now, so I can then turn my attention to going to Washington to make sure we get it approved,” he said. “And then there’s a lot of work to get people signed up. So we can’t waste any time on this.”
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, but says lawmakers can’t wait until the fall to take a vote.
“With each passing day, it becomes more challenging to do,” he said. “Where I have a fair degree of confidence we can do it and do it right in July, that starts reducing in August, and by the time you get to September it becomes extremely doubtful.”
The Senate has a scheduled session day July 3, but Snyder admits the workgroup will probably need more time to get the bill ready for a vote.
