Chairman of the Alabama House of Representatives Ways and Means General Fund Committee, Representative Steve Clouse, R-Ozark, has recently told media outlets that he favors the expansion of Medicaid under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, more widely known as Obamacare, as long as Alabama's share of funding for the expansion does not exceed ten percent of the its total cost.
Until now, Rep. Clouse, like nearly all Republican members of the Alabama Legislature, has opposed Medicaid expansion, citing unforeseen costs and increased government dependency.
Clouse, a Republican and colleague of Mike Hubbard, Republican Speaker of the Alabama House currently under
grand jury investigation regarding his financial dealings during the 2010 election. Clouse, Ozark, Alabama, is up for re-election this November but he currently represents the 93rd House District of Alabama.
Perhaps this interesting little note should be factored in:
Representative Clouse, who was elected to the House in 1994, is facing Democrat Dr. Jennifer Marsden in the November election. Dr. Marsden, who has consistently supported expanding Medicaid, is a retired Army Major, was educated at Harvard University, earned a medical degree at the University of Pittsburgh, and is a family physician. She is the first woman ever to run for the seat representing Alabama House District 93.
It should be added that it is very difficult to run as a Democrat in Alabama, especially since the President Obama/Rahm Emanuel/Robert Gibbs axis offed Howard Dean's 50-state political strategy. There are a lot of unopposed races in the Alabama House and Senate as a result.