It sounded unlikely from the start, but GOP leaders areconfirming suspicions that they want nothing to do with PresidentObama’s stated plans to expand Medicaid.

Obama wants to expand Medicaid in the 19 states that have thusfar resisted the federally-funded expansion that is a key part ofthe Patient Protection and Affordable CareAct.

Obama has suggested that states that decide to expand Medicaidbe entitled to three years in which the expansion is entirelyfederally-funded.

The idea is that they would enjoy the same level of funding thatstates that initially took part in the expansion got.

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Starting in 2017, the federal government will reduce the portionof the tab it is picking up, and it will only guarantee funding for90 percent of the costs after 2020.

But U.S. Rep. Steve Scalise, R-Louisiana, the number-threeRepublican in the House of Representatives, told the New Orleans Times-Picayune last week that fewmembers of his party are interested in approving financialincentives for Medicaid expansion.

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"For the president to suggest that Congress give him billions ofmore dollars that just don't exist, to keep funding a brokensystem, isn't a viable answer. And I don't see much support inCongress to change that law," Scalise said. "If anything, there'sclearly strong support to repeal (Obamacare) and work on strongreforms that actually lower costs and put patients back in chargeof their health care."

But just because GOP leadership doesn’t support additional moneyfor expanding Medicaid doesn’t mean that there won’t be somerank-and-file Republicans tempted to get additional dollars fortheir states. In a recent race for governor in Louisiana, theDemocratic candidate, John Bel Edwards, successfully made Medicaidexpansion a central part of his platform.

Intra-party debate among GOP state leaders over whether toaccept the expansion has intensified over the past year.

Both Alaska and Montana have expanded, while the Republicangovernors of Wyoming and Utah are pushing for expansion in the faceof resistance from conservative state legislators.