August 19, 2015 Voice Your Opinions! Letters to the editor make a difference. You can send a letter of up to 200 words (shorter letters are more likely to be accepted) to the Alaska Dispatch News by email (letters@alaskadispatch.com); or by fax or mail (call them at 257-4308). Send letters to the Anchorage Press via e-mail editor@anchoragepress.com or by mail to 540 E. Fifth Ave, Anchorage, 99501. Feel free to call us if you need factual information to help you write a letter. Contact the Governor. The Governor can be reached at 269-7450; or www.alaska.gov. Contact us. My office can be reached at: 716 W. 4th Ave, Anchorage, AK 99501; by phone: 269-0106; visit my website at http://gara.akdemocrats.org; or email: Rep.Les.Gara@akleg.gov

Dear Neighbors:

Getting the Feds to pay for what the state used to pay for was once on Page One of the Alaska playbook. But yesterday some legislative leaders voted to spend $450,000 of your money on corporate law firms to sue Governor Walker on, well, a policy decision he made that saved the state money by leveraging those federal funds. To be exact, $145,000,000 in federal funds that would create 4,000 Alaska jobs, and ripple through our ailing economy.

When you have a $4 billion budget deficit, rejecting sensible budget savings that, in this case, would provide working people with medical care, is backwards budgeting. When your state is losing jobs, you don't turn away 4,000 easily created new ones. Jobs for people who would shop at our local businesses and bolster our communities.

My kudos goes to Rep. Sam Kito (D-Juneau) for voting against yesterday's Majority member decision to waste your money.

Let's get facts on the table about Medicaid Expansion, a policy a majority of Republican and Democratic Governors outside Alaska have accepted, but that my colleagues from across the aisle in Alaska have blocked from a vote, and now will spend $450,000 to sue over.

Medicaid expansion saves money because when states accept it, the federal government is required by law to pay medical costs Alaska now pays for with state money. For example, the state currently pays the high cost of prisoner hospital treatment, for prisoners who have no dependent children. In states that accept Medicaid expansion, the Feds now pick up that tab. These and many other medical costs the Feds would be required to pay in place of the state are estimated to save $6 million in state spending the first year, and more than that in future years.

New Arguments Ring Ping Pong Ball Hollow

The House Speaker and Senate President argue that they aren't challenging the merits of this policy, but are sending a message to the Governor that he took away their legislative power when he adopted Medicaid Expansion. They could have complained with a First Class stamp and saved us money. And I don't buy this half argument, which leaves out an important half that undermines their complaint.

When Governor Walker was elected, and all during the 2014 campaign he said he'd accept Medicaid Expansion. The first bill he filed included it. Then Republican leaders (not all Republicans, just a majority and their caucus leadership) said his bill wasn't good enough because it didn't include Medicaid "reforms." That's fallacy number one.

In fact the Governor's Department of Health and Human Services was moving ahead with work on cost-saving reforms. To spell it in out in big letters for complaining legislators, the Governor then filed a bill that included specific reforms that would save the state $330 million in state spending over the next six years. The Department is also moving ahead of $220 million more in reforms on its own.

I’m standing with the Governor on saving state spending & creating jobs with Medicaid Expansion and Reforms.

I supported that bill, and its $300 million in state budget savings. The Governor did what he was asked. But his bill was blocked along party lines from a vote, during the 90-day Legislative Session and the 50 days of expensive Legislative "Special" Sessions (I accepted no per diem payments for that expensive Anchorage Special Session).

So where's the half of the argument the Speaker and Senate President leave out? The Governor offered to adopt expansion, and their request for reform, by statute, to involve the Legislature. We had the legislative votes to pass it. But legislative leaders like the Speaker and Senate President blocked it from a vote so it couldn't pass (they argued it doesn't matter how many legislators support a bill, but whether a majority of their "caucus" wants it to go to a vote).

So they are suing over a bill that had the votes to pass. They are suing over a bill the Governor was asked to file, and that they then blocked from a vote. They are spending $450,000 on law firms to stop a policy that would save us $330 million over the next six years.

We have a serious budget deficit to address. This could have been part of the solution. Instead, we are left disappointed that a lawsuit, and some "conservative" legislators have decided to make that deficit bigger.

I will keep working to educate the public and my colleagues on this issue. And I will call on them to stop spending money on expensive attorneys, and instead allow a vote on the Governor's Medicaid Expansion and Reform Bill. That's cheaper. And smarter.

As always, let me know if I can help or if you have any questions. I hope the end of summer is treating you well.

My Best,