About 300 people from across Oklahoma assembled in May, 2016, at the state Capitol to take part in Medicaid Matters rally. Many arrived in wheelchairs and some waved signs with hand-decorated messages to capture the attention of lawmakers. [Photo by Jim Beckel, The Oklahoman Archives]

After months of considering the possible fiscal and political impacts, Gov. Mary Fallin decided in late 2012 not to expand Medicaid, the state-federal health care program for the poor.

At the time, the Obama administration was offering to pay 100 percent of the cost of the new recipients for the first few years. But the Republican governor and GOP legislators preferred to reject anything connected to the Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare.

If Fallin is replaced by a Republican, that posture will remain.

“With the Trump administration still working to transition away from Obamacare and toward a more robust private health insurance world, I believe it is wrong to expand Medicaid at this point,” Lt. Gov. Todd Lamb, one of the leading Republican candidates, said last week.