At Friday’s news conference, Heineman said “there’s going to be 50 different state solutions” on Medicaid and he fears accepting the expansion in Nebraska would mean higher taxes and cuts to education funding.

He then pivoted to argue in favor of the importance of states focusing on preventive care, punctuating the point by reaching into his back pocket and holding up a pedometer.

I think Nebraska State Senator Heath Mello summed up the logic nicely:

By the way, here’s Heineman — back in the heady days of 2009’s budget crisis — cutting funding for education while spending freely on a death penalty system that doesn’t work at all.

So … that’s less money for education and a bunch of money spent on not actually executing anyone. But Heineman wants us to believe that he’s very concerned about cuts to education funding in Nebraska because of the Medicaid expansion.