PHOENIX — Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer has signed a law expanding the state’s Medicaid program following her victory over conservatives in her own party opposed to embracing a key part of President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul.
The Republican governor gathered key lawmakers from both parties who voted for the law at Monday morning’s ceremony. Conservative Republicans in the Arizona House and Senate fought the proposal bitterly for months but the Legislature’s Democrats and some Republicans teamed up to approve the law.
Opponents of the bill are planning a citizen’s referendum that would block it and a lawsuit is also possible.
Brewer fought the law but agreed to add more than 300,000 poor Arizonans to the program after the Supreme Court found it was constitutional and Obama was re-elected.
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