In a visit to his hometown newspaper, Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey unveiled Excuse #3,973 for why Tennessee won’t expand Obamacare, accept billions of dollars in federal cash and provide health care for roughly 300,000 of our state’s working poor.

At first, you’ll recall, Ramsey and his supermajority claimed it would demolish state finances. Then when the true state cost under Gov. Bill Haslam’s Insure Tennessee became known—it’s free—they were forced to switch to their timeless, go-to argument: Washington lies! They said the Obama administration is totally untrustworthy and will renege on its deal with Haslam and stick it to Tennessee.

When legislative leaders were asked at one point whether this might hurt rural hospitals, they shrugged. That’s the way the free market works sometimes, they said, and hospitals need to develop a different business model.

That argument must feel a little crusty at this point to Ramsey, what with hospitals closing and Insure Tennessee supporters refusing to take no for an answer and go away. So he’s switching gears again. Now Ramsey is saying it makes sense to wait until after the presidential election because not until a Republican occupies the White House can we feel good about taking free federal money.

“This is 2016 and we’re going to have a new president in November one way or the other,” Ramsey said in a recent meeting with members of the Times-News Editorial Board. “Every Republican presidential nominee has basically said that we will give the money to the states in block grants and allow us to design our own (Medicaid) program. … They would say, ‘Here’s your $3.1 billion and design your own plan.’ I think we can do that. … Even TennCare (the state’s current Medicaid program) experts say that is the case. … The timing is bad now, (Gov. Bill Haslam, a Republican) is not going to bring (Insure Tennessee) back up.”



We’re still waiting for lawmakers to admit the real reasons they won’t expand Obamacare. True, they hate Obamacare because Obama likes it. But also Republicans are terrified that, once Tennesseans are covered, they will like it too.

And oh by the way, those bills to legalize medical marijuana for the sick and dying? Forget about it, Ramsey says: “I don’t think it has a prayer.”