Alaska and Minnesota, both led by Republican governors, were the only states not to apply for health insurance exchange planning grants, then Wyoming, Iowa and Georgia joined them in not pursuing extra $1 million federal grants for rate reviews this summer.
Utah already operates a health insurance exchange similar to what the reform law envisions in each state, but in a letter to the U.S. Health and Human Services secretary Kathleen Sebelius, Utah Republican Gov. Gary Herbert told her to “resist the temptation to expand federal authority over state exchanges.” Mr. Herbert’s policy director added, “Our fear is that our model cannot survive if we have to turn it into a large regulatory body. We don’t want to get mired in federal bureaucracy.”
Alaska’s Democratic state senators have been vainly pressuring GOP Gov. Sean Parnell to take the federal funding. “Your opposition to the law should not result in damaging the health of your constituents, their pocketbooks or the pocketbook of the state,” State Sen. Hollis French wrote the governor.
Read the Politico report on healthcare reform.
Read more coverage of healthcare reform:
– Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty Rejects All Funds From Reform Bill
– Five More States Joining Health Reform Lawsuit, Bringing Total to 18
– Some States Vow to Take Healthcare Reform Battle to Courts
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