Governors of Alabama, Alaska, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming have all said “no” to a state-implemented health insurance exchange. (12/7/2012)
1. “No matter which [exchange] option is chosen, Wisconsin taxpayers will not have meaningful control over the health-care policies and services sold to Wisconsin residents.”
– Gov. Scott Walker, Wisconsin http://www.bizjournals.com/
2. “By declining to implement a government-run ‘exchange’ and preserving Ohio’s ability to regulate health insurance on its own, Gov. Kasich is protecting Ohio families and small businesses from some of the steep costs and red tape created by ObamaCare.”
–Speaker John Boehner, Ohio http://thehill.com/blogs/
3. “Likewise, though I am a steady advocate of local control, I have come to the conclusion that the State of Arizona would wield little actual authority over its ‘state’ Exchange. The federal government would maintain oversight and control over virtually every aspect of our Exchange, limiting our ability to meet the unique needs of Arizonans and the Arizona insurance market.”
–Gov. Jan Brewer, Arizona http://www.mackinac.org/17984
4. “I do not believe the state of Indiana should establish a state-based health insurance exchange because doing so will cost taxpayers millions of dollars and it is not clear that Hoosiers would benefit from incurring the cost of implementing this new federal health care bureaucracy. Without knowing more details on the cost and nature of state-based exchanges, it is possible that our state could be placed in the untenable position of serving as the administrator of a new federal health care bureaucracy over which we have little control.”
–Governor-elect Mike Pence, Indiana http://www.ibj.com/pence-
5. “The reason we are not going to do either one of those is we just cannot afford it, not only in this state but in this nation.”
–Gov. Robert Bentley, AL http://blog.al.com/spotnews/
6. “Federally mandated programs should be paid for by federal dollars.”
–Gov.Sean Parnell, AK http://www.mcclatchydc.com/
7. “Kansans feel Obamacare is an overreach by Washington and have rejected the state’s participation in this federal program. My administration will not partner with the federal government to create a state-federal partnership insurance exchange because we will not benefit from it and implementing it could cost Kansas taxpayers millions of dollars.”
–Gov. Sam Brownback, Kansas http://www.thestate.com/2012/
8. “The PPACA remains a flawed piece of legislation that fails to fix the fundamental existing problems in the United States health care system, particularly the unsustainable rising costs faced by American families and small businesses. Instead, we are faced with a more tightly controlled federal-run health insurance market that will increase costs, undermine the private health care marketplace, and weaken private sector job creation.”
“The State of Louisiana has no interest in being a party to this failure by implementing a state based exchange.”
–Bruce D. Greenstein, Secretary, Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals http://www.dhh.louisiana.gov/
9. “Yet, as we worked through the process of analyzing options available to South Carolina, it became abundantly clear that state ‘participation’ was in name only.
The law’s state-based exchange programs are not state-based at all. Instead, they simply pass along to the state the burdens of a new and cumbersome bureaucracy.”
–Gov. Nikki Haley, South Carolina http://www.edgefielddaily.com/
10. “The committee apparently was not able to [...] receive assurances about major concerns regarding costs for Michigan taxpayers, the ability to adopt a model the federal government wouldn’t ultimately control or the ability to protect religious freedom for Michigan citizens. Because the committee could not be assured that a state exchange was the best way to protect Michigan’s citizens, it is understandable why they did not approve the bill.”
–Speaker of the House Jase Bolger, Michigan http://www.gophouse.com/
11. “After careful consideration, I have today informed U.S. Secretary of Health Kathleen Sebelius that Oklahoma will not pursue the creation of its own health insurance exchange. Any exchange that is PPACA compliant will necessarily be ‘state-run’ in name only and would require Oklahoma resources, staff and tax dollars to implement. It does not benefit Oklahoma taxpayers to actively support and fund a new government program that will ultimately be under the control of the federal government….”
– Governor Mary Fallin, Oklahoma . http://www.okgop.com/governor-