NRD Editor’s Note: Americans for Limited Government sent 26 letters to Republican governors either urging them not to implement, or praising for not implementing state exchanges in the health care law.
By Bill Wilson — It is incredible that the Republican Governors Association is struggling trying to figure out what to do about Obamacare’s provision that states form a health insurance exchange. If a majority of Republican governors simply followed Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s lead and refused to implement a state exchange, one of Obamacare’s most repressive mandates would fall apart.
The statute provides that the enforcement of Obamacare’s employer mandate rests with the state health insurance exchange. If a state refuses to establish the exchange, there can be no enforcement under the actual law that was passed by the Pelosi-Reid Congress and signed by President Obama.
This effectively destroys the employer mandate, which is the lynchpin of Obamacare’s implementation. The employer mandate dictates what health insurance businesses must provide their employees as well as cost sharing options with massive penalties for failure to comply that can only be imposed by state exchanges.
The failure by the RGA to take a strong stand right now against the state health insurance exchanges brings into question their commitment against the federal takeover of our nation’s health care system.
Incredibly, the RGA has already asked the Obama Administration to clarify issues regarding the state health insurance exchanges on two other occasions with little if any response.
Clearly, the Obama Administration is playing chicken, and Republican governors should call their bluff by refusing to take any action to implement the federal statute.
To do anything else would make Republican governors complicit in the extortion of their own private businesses through Obamacare.
This is Obamacare’s last stand, and it’s time for every Republican governor to protect their own citizens from its effects. Anything else is would make them equal partners in the destruction of our nation’s health care system.
Bill Wilson is the President of Americans for Limited Government. You can follow him on Twitter at @BillWilsonALG.
