Republicans' decision to forego exchanges will bring in federal option

Politico: How Red-State Governors Are Opening The Doors To Obamacare
Bobby Jindal's got a funny way of showing how much he hates Obamacare and Washington bureaucracy: The Louisiana governor's about to invite the feds to set up a health insurance exchange right in his backyard. So is Rick Perry in Texas. Ditto for John Kasich in Ohio. And Scott Walker in Wisconsin. These Republican governors, and more than a dozen others in red states around the country, have decided it's better to have Obamacare forced on them than to legitimize it by setting up their own exchanges, even if that means empowering the federal government at the expense of the states (Allen, 11/17).

The New York Times: G.O.P. Governors Ready To Hold Line On Obama Policies
When most people talk about divided government, they mean the gridlock in Washington where the Democratic president jousts with the Republican House. But the more interesting divide may well be between President Obama and the growing ranks of Republican governors who will help decide the fate of many of his policies. Even as Mr. Obama was handily re-elected to a second term this month, Republicans won their 30th governor's seat. Now, many of the same governors who tried and failed to block the president's health care law in court are being charged with putting it into place (Cooper, 11/16).

The New York Times: States Decline To Set Up Exchanges For Insurance
Georgia, Ohio and Wisconsin joined more than a dozen other states on Friday in saying they would not establish health insurance exchanges, while a handful of other states said they would take advantage of an extra month allowed by the Obama administration to make decisions (Pear and Goodnough, 11/16).

The Los Angeles Times: More GOP Governors Decline To Create Health Insurance Exchanges
More Republican governors announced Friday they would not implement a key part of the new healthcare law, despite a new attempt by the Obama administration to give states more time to develop plans to put the Affordable Care Act in place. Ohio Gov. John Kasich, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and Maine Gov. Paul LePage joined more than a dozen GOP governors who have notified the administration they will not set up state insurance exchanges next year, instead leaving the job to the federal government (Levey, 11/16). 

The Associated Press: Walker's Health Care Decision Ripped By Democrats
Gov. Scott Walker's decision to hand off creation of an online marketplace to connect Wisconsin consumers with private health insurance providers riled Democrats and others who hoped he would support a state-run exchange despite his opposition to the federal law. ... By not setting up its own exchange, Wisconsin will lose control over several key decisions over how easily consumers will be able to compare insurance plans, what plans can be sold through the exchange, what the plans must cover and their cost. In addition, the exchanges offer coverage to people buying in the individual and small business markets, and those are areas that states have traditionally regulated. Without a state-run exchange, states undercut the role of their own regulators in an important new market (Bauer, 11/16).

Kaiser Health News: Florida Gov. Rick Scott Ready To Negotiate State Exchange
Florida Gov. Rick Scott said Friday that he's open to building a state-based health insurance exchange under the health care law -; but only if he can find a way to pay for it that doesn't increase health costs or state taxes (Galewitz, 11/16).