Tea party anti-reform strategy would expand federal role in health care

[ProSense]

Tea party anti-reform strategy would expand federal role in health care

by Jed Lewison

So the newest plan of attack from health care reform opponents is to stop states from creating their own health insurance exchanges—the insurance marketplaces created by the health care reform law that will allow people without insurance to purchase coverage.

Apparently they've had some success. South Carolina, Georgia, and Montana may not create a framework for exchanges before the 2013 deadline.

But is this strategy really a silver bullet to stop health care reform in its tracks? Not exactly:

If states do not have the framework in place for an exchange by 2013, Health and Human Services will come into the state and do the jobs themselves.

In other words, the same people yelling about how they want states to be responsible for regulating their health insurance markets are pursuing a strategy that will put the Federal government in charge of regulating health insurance markets. Brilliant.