“While other Republican governors are starting to back away from their opposition to implementing a key part of President Obama’s health care law, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal said Tuesday that he’s not reconsidering.”
“The House Ways and Means Committee has subpoenaed Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, demanding that she reveal details of how the agency is promoting the health reform law, according to the committee.
The election may have iced efforts to repeal the law on the whole, but House Republicans are indicating they’re full speed ahead on intense oversight of how the Obama administration is enacting the legislation.”
“Immediately after the presidential election, and more than a week ahead of the Nov. 16 deadline, Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon, a Democrat, announced he had made up his mind. The state would not be setting up its own health insurance exchange. Next door in Kansas, Gov. Sam Brownback, a Republican, made a similar announcement.”
“The Obama administration said Thursday it will give states an extra month to decide whether they plan to implement the core piece of President Obama’s healthcare law. States were initially supposed to decide by Friday whether they would run their own insurance exchanges. But on the eve of that deadline, HHS told Republican governors they could have until Dec. 14 to make that call.”
“A top American bishop said Tuesday the Roman Catholic church will not comply with the Obama administration requirement that most employers provide health insurance covering birth control. New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said church leaders are open to working toward a resolution with federal officials, but will meanwhile press ahead with challenges to the mandate in legislatures and in court.”
“Another Republican governor on Tuesday formally refused to set up an insurance exchange under President Obama’s healthcare law. Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley said the state will not establish an exchange and also will not participate in the law’s Medicaid expansion.”
“ObamaCare requires the collection of vast amounts of sensitive personal health data. Naturally its proponents swear that such information will be strictly confidential. Tax preparers are one group that knows that such government promises cannot be relied upon.”
“While the future of the 2010 health care law stabilized with the re-election of President Obama, both Democrats and Republicans say now is the time for them to come together to fix it… Until Tuesday, when Obama’s future was determined, Republicans opposed to the law waited for a change in administrations that would allow them to repeal the law. That will not happen now with a Democrat in the White House for the next four years… But changes are imminent.”
“Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.) isn’t ready to join House Speaker John Boehner in admitting President Barack Obama’s health care reform law was the ‘law of the land.’ ‘No,’ Price said on ‘Fox News Sunday’ when asked if he agreed with Boehner’s assessment. ‘I can tell you, as a physician, we’re not opposed to the president’s health care law because of this election, we’re opposed because it’s bad policy and it’s bad for patients all across this land.'”
“The Democrats do not have supermajority control of the House and Senate, as they did in the 111th Congress when the PPACA was passed. Indeed, in 2013 and 2014, Republicans will have a rather sizeable majority in the House, along with 45 votes in the Senate. In addition, there are now 30 Republican Governors in the states, who will have much to say about health care policy in the coming years, too. So, unlike the birth of the PPACA, its implementation will proceed at a time when Republicans are controlling many levers of power.”