--- title: Watch John Oliver Tackle Elections on 'Last Week Tonight' description: Not the 2016 presidential elections, but the upcoming state elections, which he analyzes for their potential impact on Medicaid. canonical: https://time.com/4096124/john-oliver-elections-obamacare-medicaid/ author: Melissa Locker article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-11-02T09:04:09.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-31T08:51:17.116Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: Watch John Oliver Tackle Elections on 'Last Week Tonight' og:description: But not the U.S. presidential election. That's so next year. og:url: https://time.com/4096124/john-oliver-elections-obamacare-medicaid/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7d65fd9c798b448f/698858d8196cf40471036e30/screen-shot-2015-06-29-at-5-25-49-pm.png?branch=production&width=1920&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: John Oliver og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Watch John Oliver Tackle Elections on 'Last Week Tonight' twitter:description: But not the U.S. presidential election. That's so next year. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7d65fd9c798b448f/698858d8196cf40471036e30/screen-shot-2015-06-29-at-5-25-49-pm.png?branch=production&width=1920&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Watch John Oliver Tackle Elections (But Not the Presidential Elections) on _Last Week Tonight_ by [Melissa Locker](/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Nov 2, 2015 9:04 AM CUT  by [Melissa Locker](/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Nov 2, 2015 9:04 AM CUT On _Last Week Tonight_, John Oliver finally tackled the topic of elections, which he defined as “the only excuse for a grown man to kiss a stranger’s baby and not have the police called.” Oliver did not use his platform to talk about the 2016 presidential elections, however. Nor did he talk about or [to Donald Trump](https://twitter.com/LastWeekTonight/status/660876781763866624 "undefined"), because those elections are still a year away. Instead he focused on another important election happening much sooner, when states will elect governors and members of congress. The reason these polls are particularly important this year, according to Oliver, is that they could determine the expansion of Obamacare. Back in 2012, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld “nearly all” of Obamacare. However, according to Oliver, “Health care is like a pair of gym shorts even if it covers nearly all it is supposed to, you’re still left with some problematic gaps and terrible things can happen.” To make up some of those “problematic gaps,” states have the option to expand Medicaid coverage, meaning that for relatively little money, they could offer health insurance for their poorest citizens. However, so far 20 states have decided not to expand Medicaid, which brings us to this Tuesday’s elections, where results in three states—Mississippi, Kentucky, and Virginia—could determine whether Medicaid gets expanded or not. In the segment, Oliver analyzes the likely outcomes and it looks like the only one who will come out a winner is, well, a pangolin. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4096124/john-oliver-elections-obamacare-medicaid/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4096124/john-oliver-elections-obamacare-medicaid/"},"headline":"Watch John Oliver Tackle Elections (But Not the Presidential Elections) on Last Week Tonight","datePublished":"2015-11-02T09:04:09.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-31T08:51:17.116Z","description":"The presidential election is so next year","url":"https://time.com/4096124/john-oliver-elections-obamacare-medicaid/","keywords":["Obamacare","Television","elections","Medicaid","John Oliver","Last Week Tonight"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7d65fd9c798b448f/698858d8196cf40471036e30/screen-shot-2015-06-29-at-5-25-49-pm.png?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Melissa Locker","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7d65fd9c798b448f/698858d8196cf40471036e30/screen-shot-2015-06-29-at-5-25-49-pm.png?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"John Oliver","caption":"","creditText":"","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4096124/john-oliver-elections-obamacare-medicaid/","name":"Watch John Oliver Tackle Elections (But Not the Presidential Elections) on Last Week Tonight"}}]}] ```