OHIO WILL NOT RUN AN OBAMACARE HEALTH EXCHANGE

Today is the deadline for states to opt in or out of the Obamacare exchanges. From Governor John Kasich's website, posted today:

OHIO WILL NOT RUN AN OBAMACARE HEALTH EXCHANGE: On Nov. 16, 2012 Gov. John Kasich notified the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that Ohio will not run an Obamacare health exchange in Ohio, but will instead leave that to the federal government to do. This decision was made after thoroughly investigating all options available to Ohio under the law, including conducting separate studies by the respected health policy research specialists Milliman, Inc. and the global business and information technology consultancy KPMG.

ABC reports more states are opting out:

On Thursday, South Carolina governor and rising Republican star Nikki Haley sent a letter to Sebelius on Thursday saying that South Carolina “should not and will not set up a state-based health care exchange.”

Several other Republican governors, including Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, a GOP leader who is frequently cited as a potential candidate in 2016, and Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley announced that their states would also not set up an exchange.

. . .

Under the law, if a state falls behind or opts not to set up the exchange, the federal government, specifically the Department of Health and Human Services, steps in and sets up the exchange. That would not likely be well-received by Republican governors either, but the law forces each state’s executive to make a decision one way or the other. “If the state decides not to establish an exchange, then the federal government establishes the exchange for them. So it’s kind of a pick-your-poison scenario, if you will,” said Renee M. Landers, a professor of law at Suffolk University Law School in Boston.  . . .

More battles ahead.