Southern Backlash to the Affordable Care Act

When the U.S. Supreme Court outlawed segregation in public education in 1954,  Southern states fought it tooth and nail like the Affordable Care Act of today.  They claim it would expand the size of government, but the real reason may be rooted in race or class.

Republicans control most state legislatures in the South. Within those states are those who would benefit the greatest from the new healthcare law, minorities, and the poor who tend to vote Democratic. Republican Governors have refused to expand Medicaid as authorized by the Affordable Care Act,  which could aid the unemployed or low-wage earners,  despite widespread support for it.  In Georgia, for instance,  at least 60 percent of respondents in a recent poll back such a move, but the governor refuses as in other states.  In most instances,  Southern governors, with the full backing of Republican-controlled legislatures, have opted out of any part of the recently passed healthcare bill,  causing the federal government to intervene, like during school desegregation in the 1950s and '60s.

Other Southern states headed by Republicans tend to oppose the Affordable Care Act simply because it's the president's or a Democratic plan.  Republicans mostly backed Mitt Romney's version of the law while he was the governor of Massachusetts.  The conservative Heritage Foundation even threw its support behind such a measure in the 1980s to ease the healthcare burden in the United States.  However,  as soon as Obama proposed the idea,  the G.O.P. bolted for the hills.

However,  not all states in the South have backed away from or circumvented the Affordable Care Act.  Those states with Democratic governors, such as Kentucky and Arkansas, have fully embraced the newly added social program with expanded Medicaid for its needy citizens.