But cracks in the Republican opposition to Medicaid expansion, visible since the beginning of the Obamacare fight, have split wide open over the past year. Republicans in many states, sensitive to attacks from Democrats for denying their constituents their share of federal dollars, are now seeking exit strategies from the ideological box they put themselves in two years ago.

The threat of the Medicaid issue to Republicans appeared to be on display in Louisiana, where a Democratic candidate, John Bel Edwards, recently won an upset in the governor’s race after railing against GOP opponent Sen. David Vitter for opposing expansion. And he did so by hardly mentioning “Obamacare.”

Conversely, Matt Bevin, a staunch conservative who recently won the Kentucky race for governor, has stepped back from promises to undo the PPACA reforms that the incumbent Democrat had introduced to the Bluegrass State, including a Medicaid expansion that dramatically lowered the uninsured rate.

Six other states, all of which are at least partially controlled by Republicans, have requested Section 1115 waivers that allow them certain flexibilities in administering the health program. It allows them to charge premiums to Medicaid beneficiaries up to 5 percent of their income, for instance.

And of course, even Republicans on Capitol Hill, whose top legislative priority in recent years has been to pass a symbolic repeal of the PPACA, assured the public that their recent legislation to kill the health law would not immediately throw people off the Medicaid rolls, but would gradually pare down the program until an alternative health policy could be set up.