The legislative council voted 10-1 Tuesday afternoon to sue over Governor Bill Walker’s plan to expand Medicaid in Alaska.
Representative Sam Kito(D-Juneau) was the only lawmaker to vote against challenging the plans after the council emerged from a closed-door executive session.
The committee also approved $450,000 which will be directed to two law firms. The budget of the Legislative Council will fund half of that cost while the other half is taken from House and Senate operating budgets.
Alaska’s legislators have questioned whether the expansion population is a mandatory group for coverage or an optional group.
The federal health care law expanded eligibility for Medicaid, but the U.S. Supreme Court in 2012 said states could not be penalized for not participating in expansion.
Some read the court’s decision as meaning the expansion population is optional and that legislative approval therefore would be needed to add the expansion group.
In today’s press conference it was stated that the U.S. Supreme court ruled that expansion group optional however Alaska State law requires legislative action to add that group to the expansion.
Attorney General Craig Richards said the court didn’t strike down the new required category but the penalty for not complying with it.