Democratic governors nervous about ObamaScam (care)

[Presicoon]

MILWAUKEE � Democratic governors say they are nervous about
getting the new federal health care law implemented but add they
will be better positioned in next year's elections than many of
their Republican counterparts who have resisted the far-reaching
and politically polarizing measure.

Several of the 12 Democratic governors shared that sense of
nervousness-veiled-by-optimism at the National Governors
Association meeting Saturday in Milwaukee.

"There's some angst, and you can see that from the decision the
administration made a couple weeks ago," said Delaware Gov. Jack
Markell. "There's a lot of work to do."

By next Jan. 1, most people will be required to have insurance.
States have to set up exchanges by Oct. 1, when uninsured
individuals can start buying subsidized private health coverage
that would go into effect Jan 1, and businesses with more than
50 employees working 30 or more hours a week were supposed to
offer affordable health care to their workers or risk a series
of escalating tax penalties.

But businesses said they needed more time, and on July 2,
President Barack Obama's administration abruptly extended the
deadline one year -- to Jan. 1, 2015.

That caused some Democrats in Congress to worry the program
would not be ready on time, as states are building online
platforms for their residents to use to comply with the law.
Although the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the Affordable Care Act
in June 2012, the Republican-controlled House has voted 40 times
since Obama signed the law in 2010 to repeal, defund or scale it
back, most recently Friday.

As Congress prepared to head home for a five-week recess, Obama
sought to calm jittery Democrats, assuring them that they are
"on the right side of history" despite problems with the law's
launch.

Republicans have stated openly they plan to use the slow
economic recovery and the health care law to attack Democrats in
the 2014 congressional elections.

But Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad, a Republican, said GOP governors
could get blamed next year, even if they worked to meet its
requirements, a situation that could be aggravated by
Republicans in the U.S. House who continue to hold votes to
attack it.

"My approach is not to complain about things, but to get it done
best we can," said Branstad, who has been a vocal critic of the
law. "It's our responsibility."

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, the governors' host and a possible
2016 Republican presidential prospect, said Obama delayed the
employer mandate out of fear that voters would blame Democrats
in the 2014 elections if the economy suffered as a result of the
new law.

"A cynic would be right to say the reason they pushed back the
employer mandate had little to nothing to do with policy and
everything to do with politics," Walker said.

Most of the two dozen governors from both parties gathered at
the conference expressed confidence that their states would be
ready on time, especially Democrats, although they said the work
is daunting.

"Any time you go and make this much change in this short a
period of time, it does cause headaches," Colorado Gov. John
Hickenlooper said.

But with that pain comes progress, Hickenlooper and others
argued. And those Republicans who have resisted or delayed
taking action will pay the price.

Long before election day, the philosophical debate over the bill
will have turned into a practical reality for millions of newly
insured voters.

"Choosing ideology over jobs and affordable health care is a
false choice, and it's an example of the differences between
Republicans and Democrats," Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin, a
Democrat, said.

Among the challenges states are encountering are the
technological requirements to allow buyers to search for
insurers, rates and benefits on the exchanges. Others are
training state employees to administer the program and marketing
it to millions of Americans, all during a time of strained state
budgets. Marketing employees were often among the first to lose
their jobs.

Despite the headaches, the alternative to the status quo is far
worse, Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley said.

"Nothing could be more complicated than doing what we were doing
before, which was to throw away more and more money on more
expensive care for worse results," said O'Malley, a Democrat
also mulling a 2016 White House run.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/08/03/democratic-governors-
nervous-about-obamacare/?intcmp=obnetwork

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