thenEarlier this week, the Obama administration extended a crucial deadline for individual states to submit plans to implement the Affordable Care Act’s mandated insurance exchanges. This concept was conceived, in part, to tamp down claims that the law is a “government takeover,” allowing each state some flexibility in how they’ll run their version of the system. The reason it had to be extended? Many states had taken no steps to meet the original November 15th deadline, hoping for GOP wins at the presidential and senate levels that would jeopardize the law.
nowThe number of states refusing to take part is swelling. Govs. Scott Walker of Wisconsin, John Kasich of Ohio, and Paul LePage of Maine followed suit today, with Speaker John Boehner saying of Kasich, “I’m proud of my governor … for taking a stand and resisting the federal takeover of healthcare in Ohio.” There’s a certain contradiction in all this — by refusing to set up state-run exchanges, these governors are in fact willingly ceding that job entirely to the federal government. To this date, Alabama, Alaska, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming have all refused. source
then Many states, despite knowing the Affordable Care Act’s imminent November 16th deadline to declare plans for the law’s 2014 insurance exchanges, didn’t bother making any. This is because Republican-governed states, vehemently opposed to the health care law, had wagered on a Romney win and Republican senate takeover that would have allowed for the law’s repeal. If it’s gonna be repealed, why bother making plans or preparations?
now Mitt Romney didn’t win, which put these dozens of states in a sticky spot. Today came word that the Obama administration will extend the deadline — the states will now have until December 14th to submit plans on how to run their versions of the exchange. Seven states (Alaska, Kansas, Florida, South Dakota, South Carolina, Virginia, and Texas) have confirmed their refusal to participate, in which case the federal government will manage the exchanges itself. source
