This is good news. Maybe she & Haslam can make the legislature see that expaning Medicaid is the fiscally CONSERVATIVE thing to do.

Holy crap. There is hope after all.

Harwell said: “My first-blush reaction is that I’m not in favor of expansion. However, when you look at the numbers there is some justification financially as to why we might want to expand it.”

Translated, the first sentence is an obligatory nod to the wingnuts, and the second sentence is an acknowledgement of reality and affirmation that she will support the expansion.

If you want to read between the lines, this likely means that the Governor is also preparing to come out in support of the expansion.

The wingnuts in the legislature will still go hogwild, but this at least suggests that a coalition of the sane may be brewing.

I think the conventional wisdom all along was that when push came to shove most states would opt-in to the expansion. Not only does it make good fiscal sense for them and insure a bunch more people, the hospitals are pushing for it.

The main argument against it is "we hate Obamacare." Legislators might think that's enough, but Governors can't.

We shall see what happens in Tennessee. It should be interesting.

Jeff Woods:

Some justification financially? No kidding. A $7 billion federal windfall and the creation of 30,000 jobs in the health care field in this state. Hospitals no longer left holding the bag for uncompensated care. That's some justification financially. This isn't news. It's all in a University of Memphis study that came out months ago. Too bad we had to wait until after the election for the speaker finally to stop ignoring the facts.

No. That University of Memphis study cites the Association of American Medical Colleges:

the reform proposal will require 29,800 more primary care physicians in the nation by the end of 2015

and estimates

requiring 194 new primary care physicians to raise the current physician workforce level to “adequate” in the 44 of 95 counties in Tennessee that are rated as currently having inadequate or marginal supplies.