Southern governors 'SECEDE' from Medicaid?

House Republicans are lining up to repeal the Affordable Care Act on Wednesday, but GOP governors in the South have a real plan to gut the law.

Govs. Rick Perry in Texas and Rick Scott in Florida have both said they won’t expand Medicaid to more of the working poor in their states — rejecting a central part of the law designed to cover 15 million more Americans.

The governors can do it because the Supreme Court ruled last month that states can opt out of the expansion without paying a penalty.

Unlike the symbolic votes in the House this week, the governors’ tough talk has real-world consequences: Texas and Florida are among five hell-no states, meaning 3 million of the potential Medicaid beneficiaries — or about 1 in 5 nationwide — won’t get coverage through President Barack Obama’s health care law, according to a POLITICO analysis of data compiled by The Urban Institute. The governors of Mississippi, Louisiana and South Carolina also have said Washington can keep its Medicaid money and the new requirements that come with it.