What will Alaska do about Medicaid expansion?

I'm a little behind the 8 ball on this one, but on the 1st of July, the Alaska Dispatch commented on Gov. Parnell's upcoming decision on whether to opt out of the Affordable Care Act's expansion of Medicaid:

Will Alaska Expand Medicaid? Health Care for Thousands at Stake | Alaska Dispatch

One key passage:

"Provided that all states participated, the Medicaid expansion would cover roughly 16 million people across the country -- and roughly 32,000 Alaskans -- by 2014, the time when the Medicaid provision of the law would be enacted. The federal government will cover all of the costs of that expansion for the first five years. By 2020, the states will pick up about 10 percent of the costs."

So, what will we do?

It is of course true that Alaska is a conservative state, and therefore is unsurprising that the idea of "socialized medicine" will rankle some on the right.  And there may be some political hay to be made by deciding to opt out of the medicare expansion over the short term.

It is hard to imagine, however, that Alaska (or many other states, including Rick Perry's Texas) will stay out for long.  Because of generous federal subsidies, as Mark Begich notes, the expansion is a hell of a bargain for the states.  Alaskans may be conservative, but they're also pragmatic.  And if nothing else, Alaskans are very fond of federal government expenditures, provided they're in Alaska.  Although perhaps expenditures like this won't be as popular as expenditures on tasty, tasty, chicharrón-flavored bridges to nowhere (or everywhere, depending on whether or nor you're from Ketchikan).

While opponents of the Affordable Care Act/"Obamacare" insist that the act is somehow an infringement on freedom (including Parnell), I would argue that maybe poor people should also have the freedom to not be sick.  And I should have the freedom not to have to shoulder their health care expenditures, which is what insured people do when uninsured people get sick and get treated (generally at the emergency room, which is the most expensive place to get medical care).