Posted on 12/11/2012 6:44:13 AM PST by TennesseeGirl
NASHVILLE – Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam announced Monday the state will not operate a state-based healthcare exchange under the federal Affordable Care Act. Haslam made the following statement on the issue:
“Tennessee faces a decision this week about health insurance exchanges created by the Affordable Care Act.
“I'm not a fan of the law. The more I know, the more harmful I think it will be for small businesses and costly for state governments and the federal government. It does nothing to address the cost of health care in our country. It only expands a broken system. That’s why I’ve opposed it from the beginning and had hoped we would be successful in court and at the ballot box this year. “Now we’re faced with the fact that the law remains, and it requires every state to participate in an insurance exchange. Our decision is whether the state or federal government should run it, and the deadline for that decision is Friday.
“I've said that I think Tennessee could run a state exchange cheaper and better, and my natural inclination is to keep the federal government out of our business as much as possible. What our administration has been working to understand is whether we'd have the flexibility for it to be a true state-based exchanged, how the data exchange would work, and if it would work.
“Since the presidential election, we've received 800-plus pages of draft rules from the federal government, some of which actually limit state decisions about running an exchange more than we expected.
“The Obama administration has set an aggressive timeline to implement exchanges, while there is still a lot of uncertainty about how the process will actually work. What has concerned me more and more is that they seem to be making this up as they go.
“In weighing all of the information we currently have, I informed the federal government today that Tennessee will not run a state-based exchange. If conditions warrant in the future and it makes sense at a later date for Tennessee to run the exchange, we would consider that as an option at the appropriate time.
“This decision comes after months of consideration and analysis. It is a business decision based on what is best for Tennesseans with the information we have now that we’ve pressed hard to receive from Washington. If this were a political decision, it would’ve been easy, and I would’ve made it a long time ago.
“I believe my job is to get to the right answer. That’s what Tennesseans expect of me and elected me to do.”
There goes Obamna’s plan to have Tennessee foot its share of the unknown bill. Still have to pay for it, but at least one more state won’t be coopted.
19 states?
I hope people take note of the fact that its the states who are putting up the biggest fight against the democrats.
Now we’re faced with the fact that the law remains
Thanks John Roberts, Backstabber
HOORAY Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam!!! 10th amendment vs TOTALITARIAN FEDGOV BUMP!
Well-stated, reefdiver. Roberts/backstabber/triangulated by TOTALITARIANS at the FEDGOV level.
OK, but Haslam is still a RINO.
Yesssssssssssssssssssss!
I hate when states start acting like "sovereign" states instead of puppets of the fed's mandates!...../sarc
It took a Tea Party rally, a lot of correspondence from angry Tennesseans, and knowledge that he would probably be defeated in the general assembly for Haslam to find some backbone.
The guy is a bowl of jelly.
Question: What is the end game here if all these states do not set this up? High level financial extorsion at the Federal level? National Guard troops surrounding state capitals? Just curious.
I intended to send this to TennesseeGirl, but anyone can chime in. Sorry for the error.
Everyone claps and cheers, but read the fine print. Sec. Sebelius is setting up a federal exchange with her friend...see this article: http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/sebelius-healthcare-exchanges-friends/2012/12/10/id/467149
States that don’t create their own exchange basically force residents to use the fed exchange...nice work, Obama.
It's my understanding that the penalty was was suppose to be that the states federal medicaid funding would be withheld until they fell into line. Unfortunately, (for Obama) that is the one part of the law the Supreme Court did strike down. So they way it looks now, the States can not cooperate with impunity (which is why many are). The Obama folks weren't expecting this and have no funding in place to set up so many exchanges, so they are hurriedly trying to make an end run around congress and come up with a funding mechanism that doesn't require congressional approval. That is why there's been talk of a 3.5% administrative "fee" on all insurance companies that participate in the exchange.
I sure as heck hope he made the statement in a very public way, so that all his constituents--perhaps so even people in other states or the entire country will know why he is not going along with this. There are still people who don't get it. Perhaps if they do, Obamacare will crash under its own weight.
Yes, he is a RINO. But he has been a pleasant surprise in many cases so far.
Haslan’s take on the exchanges is fairly blistering, and he’s not exactly a fire breathing tea partier, is he?
It’s very possible Washington state may decline the exchanges. Even though we elected Inslee (the dumbest person on the planet), our State Sentate just elected Rodney Tom, an extremely conservative democrat as its leader. He is caucausung with Republicans and said in an interview this morning he believes it will break the back of the state to fund this. We shall see.
My hope for any lasting change now rests with the states. This is where we can make a stand.
What this means is the scare and “guilt” campaign from the Left to MAKE states conform and open their own obamacare operations is not working. These days this passes for good news which I’ll take.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.