INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Gov.-elect Mike Pence closed the door on a state-run
health insurance exchange Thursday, arguing that the estimated $50 million
cost of the state program was not worth the limited autonomy granted in
return.
Opposition to the state-based exchange has remained firm among Republican
governors following President Barack Obama’s re-election, and the
realization that his health care law would not be overturned or repealed.
“I do not believe the State of Indiana should establish a state-based health
insurance exchange because doing so will cost taxpayers millions of dollars
and it is not clear that Hoosiers would benefit from incurring the cost of
implementing this new federal healthcare bureaucracy,” Pence wrote. “Without
knowing more details on the cost and nature of state-based exchanges, it is
possible that our state could be placed in the untenable position of serving
as the administrator of a new federal healthcare bureaucracy over which we
have little control.”
Many of Pence’s Republican soon-to-be counterparts, including some of the
nation’s staunchest conservative governors in Wisconsin and Florida, have
warmed to the idea of partnering with the Department of Health and Human
Services under the “hybrid” option. But it didn’t sound like that was the
case for Pence on Thursday, although he left the door ajar for a
partnership.
“Furthermore, I remain opposed to our state pursuing a partnership exchange
with the federal government and, absent new information, will make that
known to the proper federal authorities by the deadline of February 16,
2013,” he wrote.
Gov. Mitch Daniels told the gubernatorial candidates earlier this year that
he would pass on their decision to the federal government ahead of Friday’s
deadline because one of them would ultimately be tasked with the
implementation. If Pence declines the hybrid option in a few months, the
federal government would build an exchange for Indiana and run it for a
year.
The members of the Indiana Chamber of Commerce supported the idea of a
state-run exchange in a survey, because of the power the state would have to
work with insurers. But Mike Ripley, vice president for health policy and
workforce safety, said the business group has not pushed Pence to approve a
state exchange.
State lawmakers are expected to weigh in on the health care law when they
return for their 2013 session in January. Republican House Speaker Brian
Bosma tapped a Crawfordsville physician and health policy expert to run the
chamber’s most powerful committee this year and said he expected health care
changes to add to Indiana’s budget demands in the coming years.
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