As Democratic lawmakers speed to implement President Obama’s healthcare overhaul in California, they are finding themselves at odds with the leader of their own party: Gov. Jerry Brown. The governor and legislators disagree over how the state should expand Medicaid to more than 1 million low-income Californians, a critical component of the federal Affordable Care Act. Under proposals passed by both houses of the Legislature last week on mostly party-line votes, individuals earning up to 138% of the federal poverty level — or $15,415 a year — would be newly eligible for Medi-Cal, the state’s version of Medicaid according to a recent report in the Los Angeles Times.
