we are talking about. kids, pregnant women, seniors, you are covered. so really he is talking about adults without children. he moved up to 200% but he did not give enough money to fund it. we had a waiting list for people living in poverty. what i invoked was the flexibility that he supreme court gave us in a split decision, because while they upheld the law, they gave states the right to do what we want to do on medicaid. what we did is that we said that i actually believe that medicaid is for people living in poverty, not those above it. so i put eligibility down to 100% from 200%, eliminated the waiting list for people living in poverty for what we call badger care plus, and transition everybody about it into the marketplace. i will freely say as well in this panel, i believe -- i will not criticize any fellow governors because i think every state is unique. that is what is great about federalism. in our state, i can do that, i can cover everybody living in poverty -- hopefully in the

short term. transition those above to the marketplace and protect the taxpayers. the federal government cannot even deal with the debt that they have, but two years ago when i passed my last state budget, shorted me about 30% of the $6 million that i put in for the medicaid reversed as it is today without the expansion. the larger, philosophical thing really goes to the heart of this and that is that i believe the president measures success in government by how many people are dependent on the government, by how many people are on medicaid, by how many people are on food stamps, but how many people are on unemployment. i personally believe that we should measure success in government by the opposite, by how many people are no longer dependent on the government, not because he pushed them out into the cold but because we understand that true freedom and prosperity does not, the mighty

hand of the government but from the dignity that comes from work. >> a couple of things i would like to say. first of all, we have seen a significant improvement in ohio. we have single mothers now who can get treatment who could not get it because they were up to 100% of poverty. 138% of poverty, train the -- try to live on it, it is not great. now they are getting treated. secondly, ronald reagan expanded medicaid. ronald reagan expanded medicaid. ok? because he said there were people that were left out. when people cannot get health care, they get sicker and they end up in the emergency room and guess who pays for it? we do. the people who currently pay the bills when they go into the hospital and have the insurance. >> are you making the case for the affordable care act? >> no. let me tell you why that doesn't work. medicare expansion allows us to do something, at reason the affordable care act is bad is

because it is top-down and has nothing to do with costs. and it has frozen jobs. we have got a program in ohio -- i think bobby is working on this. let me tell you -- we want higher quality and lower prices. in insurance companies -- and insurance companies and providers will share. i will give you a perfect example. we're working on reducing the number of visits for children into the hospitals who have asthma. because of that, the hospitals , they get less money. the insurance companies get more money. guess what? they come together to share the benefits. the only answer on health care is related to the simple fact we need to pay for quality and low price. and we can drive that. we are not going to eliminate medicaid. there isn't a governor who doesn't have medicaid. it is just a matter of how you run the program. our program has grown by about 3%. i am running a million .5 --

$1.5 billion surplus in ohio. our credit rating is up. we are helping a lot of people. to me that is a pretty good formula for my state. not everyone will agree with it. but that is a good formula for my state. that me say something else for medicaid. -- let me say something else for medicaid. i negotiated medicaid in 1997 with tommy thompson and john edwards. two of the very fine governors. and we reduced the number of strings connected to medicaid. they could more or less block this program and hold it accountable to spend it on people who need it and get rid of the strings and reduce some of the costs of the program. but we're not going to get rid of medicaid. what a message that would be. of here, that were going to get rid of medicaid. we are not going to do that but it can work better. it can be more efficient. there is a lot of reform we need out of washington. >> i'm at four zeros. this is a different 2016 question than you are used to.

when should the race begin? when should we be holding those perry, thatgovernor you don't want me moderating. [laughter] when should the campaign truly begin? >> i think the moral question is -- the more legitimate question is when did it start? [laughter] since the fifth of november 2014. >> when do you want to see the campaign engaged? >> i think it has. we are talking what issues that will affect the presidential election in 2016. i think we need to have this conversation with americans. and layout this whole issue. it is on. >> governor walker, when do you want to see the campaign begin? >> i think you need to have the wait until fall.

have a realistic build up to that. at the panel here with the fellow governors, people ask who can run, and i can think of people who are sitting now that be a better chief executives than the one we have in washington right now. but i do think there is a powerful message among governors that governors are getting things done. stark contrast to the old top-down approach from washington. it is happening in the states. i think there's plenty of us here and others in the crowd that will be a great alternative to what we are going to get to the left. >> when do you think the campaign should begin? >> not today. [laughter] i worked in washington, d.c. four years. that is where we met. washington, d.c. is always focused on who is next. but as governors, we had to focus on what is next.

one of the arguments for this new congress to give states more freedom and more flexibility -- andsources is because one of the reasons republican governors were reelected and elected in surprising places is they are getting results. and so i promise you everyone on this stage and anyone that is ever getting talked about is getting up every day and focusing on what is next in their state. we'll let washington, d.c. debate about what always debates , about who is next. >> governor jindal, are you concerned that it happens to quickly? >> i think others have said this exactly right. it doesn't matter when is the first debate or first candidate announced. the real way to prepare for republicans to use the majority status we have been given, to actually accomplish conservative reforms. i think it begins in state capitals. i think it begins in the house and the senate. it is a top-down government

approach that does not work. we believe the american dream can be rescued through health care policies and through our foreign policy. i think the best way to set up not only the republican candidate but also our country to be successful in 2016 is to not wait. let's not wait for the next two years. let's go show people conservative policies can work at the state level. and at the national level, let's challenge the president. one of two things will happen -- either he will adopt the policy , or if he doubles down -- let's remember they didn't tackle health care overnight. hillary clinton started in the 90's and it took two decades. we may not get our freedom back in a few years, but we will be successful in 2016. >> is there a danger of the campaign starting quickly? >> i kind of like the approach.

that people can sit in groups like this. governor perry said that it is nicer than having people yelling at each other and having guys like you moderate -- [laughter] let's talk about these guys for a second. rick perry -- think about this. rick perry in his state, created so many jobs it is unbelievable. he was running for president and he called me up. how do you think i am doing? i said, what are you stop talking about this stuff and talk about the jobs you have got created. he said i'm going to do that right now. then you have walker. he runs for election like every week. there is another election. [laughter] and he wins them all. unbelievable. he is doing a terrific job. jindal called me on election night. i said jindal, you win so many votes in louisiana.

is if you don't get 70%. you're running against yourself. you have remarkable people doing remarkable things. chuck, you guys are going to for some discussions with people. >> you think? >> you are. kind of not a great question to finish this. [laughter] >> i was trying not to do this stupid when do you announce? sillytrying not to do the when do you announce? how do you not run? fair enough. do you have a closer you would like to propose? >> i am for paul lepage. wherever he has. >> thank very much, everybody. these guys are great. take the abuse of a bunch of governors. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2014] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org]