THE WAIVER AND THE RACE FOR PRESIDENT

As many of you know, there is federal Medicaid waiver that contributes about a billion dollars towards the state's effort to cover the uninsured. It expires at the end of June; negotiations for another 3 year agreement are underway. With this much money at stake...there is a lot to talk about. Here's a question for today...how will the outcome of Super Tuesday affect the feds level of continued support for Massachusetts' (near) universal coverage law?

A few thoughts...
Senator Hillary Clinton is the only candidate still in the race whose health plan includes an individual mandate...and she draws on the MA plan more heavily than does Senator Obama. How might the feds take that into account if she becomes the frontrunner--will it help or hurt the waiver negotiations?

Senator Kennedy's involvement was critical to the waiver negotiation last time. Does his endorsement of Senator Obama have any effect on the waiver this time?

Governor Romney's administration negotiated the current waiver with strong support from the Bush administration. If he shows little chance of advancing beyond next Tuesday, would the Bush administration have less interest in making sure the MA plan succeeds?

How might the MA plan factor into a Republican Party health care platform, once one emerges, and how will that affect negotiations that are supposed to conclude in June?