A handful of governors are beginning to seriously flex their muscles in attempts to block the federal health reform law by rejecting grants or legislative action, a worrisome move for health reform’s most stalwart supporters.
“The danger is that the critics of reform will kill it before it ever has a chance to take hold,” former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle writes of the health reform law in his new book, “Getting It Done,” out Tuesday. “Opponents in state government could undermine it at every turn, or simply say they cannot do what the law requires,” Daschle adds.
After the struggle to pass health reform dominated Washington for the better part of a year, the issues of implementation were largely left to governors and state legislatures to hash out.
Alaska and Minnesota were the only states not to apply for health exchange planning grants. Three others — Wyoming, Iowa and Georgia — joined them in not pursuing an additional $1 million grant for rate reviews, released in the summer. Most recently, Utah has become active in opposing more federal regulation of insurance markets.
Health reform advocates who have pushed back against their governors’ disengagement — urging them to take a more active role in implementation — have seen little success. Alaska’s Democratic state senators have become increasingly aggressive in pressuring Republican Gov. Sean Parnell and his administration on the issue, but to little avail.
Last week, state Sen. Hollis French wrote a letter to Parnell, accusing him of blocking the legislation’s benefits. From where French sits, it gets only more difficult: Any legislation needed to implement health reform requires the governor’s signature. So the prospect of setting up a state health exchange, for example, is relatively dim. “The governor can veto any bill; he can red-line any appropriation,” French said. “We’ve got the Republican governor standing on our way, and we’re really stymied.”
The situation is similar in Minnesota, where Gov. Tim Pawlenty, with an eye on a 2012 run for president, has taken a hard line against the health reform law. Pawlenty has barred any state agencies from applying for health-reform-related grants; and, just last week, he prohibited them from sending public comment on health exchanges to the Health and Human Services Department.