S.D., Wis. Wrestle With Health Exchange Implementation
While Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker faces a dilemma regarding his state's Early Innovator Grant, South Dakota Gov. Dennis Daugaard announced his state wouldn't try to pass health exchange legislation because "there is too much uncertainty."
Politico: Scott Walker's Health Care Dilemma
It's a political game of chicken Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker hopes he can win. Walker – a tea party favorite who has changed his state's bright blue health policy trajectory — is the lone Republican governor keeping an Early Innovator grant awarded early last year under the health reform law. He isn't using the $37 million federal grant. He isn't giving it up. And it may stay that way (Nocera and Millman, 1/16).
Politico Pro: South Dakota Won't Move On Exchange
South Dakota Gov. Dennis Daugaard announced Friday that the state won't try to pass legislation this year to set up an exchange, saying the elections and the Supreme Court review of the health care law are creating so much uncertainty that there's no point in moving ahead. "There is too much uncertainty for me to recommend legislation to create an exchange at this time," Daugaard, a Republican, said in a statement. "The president's health law could be struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court this summer, and if the Republicans win the presidency and the U.S. Senate, many parts of the law could be repealed in 2013" (Nather, 1/13).
Also in the news, a progress check on Colorado's High-Risk Insurance Pool —
Denver Post: Colorado High-Risk Health Insurance Pool Runs Up Claims Twice The U.S. Average
Colorado's troubled high-risk health-insurance pool has asked the federal government for nearly $15 million more than planned after running up early claims that are twice the national average. High-risk, uninsurable patients were the heart of emotional pleas for national health care reform in 2010, and Colorado got $90 million of a $5 billion federal pool to help them. The allocation was meant to last until 2014, when insurers have to cover everyone regardless of condition (Booth, 1/16).