Washington (CNN) -- Bettina Cox battled cervical cancer in 2012. A year later, the Texas native feels that narrowly qualifying for a Medicaid-sponsored program for low-income and uninsured female cancer patients saved her life. She now wants her governor and state legislature to support an expansion of Medicaid -- part of President Barack Obama's Affordable Care Act -- that she feels could save the lives of thousands of other women in her state by helping them detect diseases much earlier. But if Texas lawmakers have their way -- as well as governors and legislatures in Florida, South Carolina and nearly a dozen other states -- low-income Americans like Cox may not have expanded access to funds needed for such procedures. Those states feel the expansion is an unnecessary government overreach at a time when spending should be limited, not expanded.
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Half of states will expand Medicaid under Obamacare; half refuse or are on the fence
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Low-income citizens and their advocates say Medicaid expansion necessary
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States like Texas, Florida say a Medicaid expansion is costly and will fail
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Politics at play and most states will eventually expand the program, political experts say
Affordable Care Act
Obamacare
The faceoff was equal parts an ideological fight over the merits of @placeholder and a foreshadowing of how that policy will influence high-stakes political races.
Texas
Texas
Texas
Take, for example, @placeholder, where nearly a quarter of the residents are uninsured.