Michigan GOP drops discriminatory provision in Medicaid bill

[Michigan governor Rick Snyder] confirmed the elimination of a controversial provision that would have let Medicaid recipients living in counties with 8.5 percent or higher unemployment meet the requirement by actively looking for work unless the jobless rate dropped below 5 percent.

Critics say it would have helped white residents in rural areas but disproportionately hurt beneficiaries in largely black cities such as Detroit and Flint, where the jobless rate is high but the countywide rate is low.

"Conceptually, I think we're basically there on how to do it, but it's a complicated topic," Snyder told The Associated Press in an interview at the Detroit Regional Chamber's Mackinac Policy Conference. He said a "narrow set of" details is being ironed out, "but in terms of a general kind of meeting of the minds, I think we're in a pretty good place."

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It's complicated. We usually count on that to promote racism. Didn't work this time, but we'll keep trying.