WAUSAU (WAOW) -
Governor
Scott Walker has announced the federal government will run Wisconsin's health
care exchange, under the new health care law.
Walker
held a conference call earlier today. That's where he announced his choice and
the reasoning behind it.
But
there's certainly opposition to his decision.
Under President Barack Obama's Affordable Care Act, each state must set
up a health care exchange, which is a marketplace where people can shop for
insurance.
There are three choices for who controls the exchange. The first would
give a state its own control, and the second would have the federal government
do it for them.
The third would be a partnership between the two. Governor Walker
decided to turn it over to the federal government.
"Eventually, as the federal funding dries up, cost for Wisconsin
taxpayers could skyrocket under a state-run exchange. That was the kind of
exposure I didn't want to put on taxpayers," Governor Scott Walker said.
This decision came with a lot of input from democratic lawmakers, who pushed
for a state-run exchange, including Congressman Ron Kind.
"I'm afraid this is driven more by politics than policy. Now that
the election is over, we have to move beyond all this, start coming together
and find some practical solutions that are going to work," Kind said.
The governor has long opposed the president's health care law. But
walker says he considered all the input he received, while democratic lawmakers
say they're not giving up.
"I am going to do everything I can to work with the Department of
Health and Human Services to institute an exchange in Wisconsin as efficient
and cost effective as we can," Kind said.
"Unfortunately, a state exchange would not provide the flexibility
to meet our state's unique needs or protect our state's taxpayers," Walker
said.
The health care exchange program goes into effect January 1st 2014.
