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Whitmer: Delay In Medicaid Expansion Costly For State Of Michigan

DETROIT (WWJ) - While Senate Democratic Leader Gretchen Whitmer (D-East Lansing) is happy Medicaid expansion has been signed into law, she's not happy about one aspect of the measure.

Whitmer tells WWJ the Snyder administration says that every day it's not in effect costs the state seven million dollars.

"One of the few disappointments in this process is that the senate Republicans would not give the bill immediate effect," Whitmer said. "I think that, you know, is a huge mistake, but I am awfully glad it will go into a law even though it'll be later than it should have been."

"Unfortunately, my Republican colleagues were persuaded by, I think, Tea Party interests to not give the bill immediate effect and it will cost the state of Michigan upwards of $600 million dollars," Whitmer added.

She says for some, expanding Medicaid is a matter of life and death.

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