So, news from 3 of the 58 states today.
■ First up, Vermont deals a blow to an ObamaTax co-op:
"A Vermont regulator said today organizers of a proposed Obamacare health insurance co-op who claimed last week they were "blindsided" were told "from the beginning" of problems with their application to operate in the state."
Oops. As we've noted before, co-ops "are nonprofit, customer-owned health plans, designed to compete against the major for-profit insurers." And, as we've also noted, they don't seem likely to fare very well. Screwing up the initial paperwork is probably not a good sign for Green Mountain State co-op wannabes.
■ Next, news from Oklahoma (okay!):
"Oklahoma attorney general Scott Pruitt has found an ingenious way to call a halt to the Obamacare project: Hold the federal government to the letter of that misbegotten law."
Turns out, the Sooner State is sticking by its guns in its federal lawsuit challenging the train-wreck's (sorry, Max!) constitutionality. As one of the 33 states that took a pass on creating its own Exchange, its citizens stand to get hit with tax penalties that seem pretty blatantly illegal.
'Course, they're only illegal if SCOTUS Chief Roberts says they're illegal.
■ Finally, the Natural State (really!) is trying out a bold new Medicaid experiment:
"Arkansas appears poised to move ahead with a plan that will bring private coverage to a population very close to the poverty level while defanging [the ObamaTax's] controversial Medicaid expansion ... that would allow — if the federal government grants a waiver — those for whom the Medicaid expansion was intended to buy private health insurance through the Arkansas health insurance exchange or marketplace."
If you "get" vouchers, then you'll "get" this: instead of an expensive and ineffectual bureaucracy, you give folks the means to purchase their own coverage, which also reinforces the basic (but recently all but extinct) concept of personal responsibility.
Win-win.
■ First up, Vermont deals a blow to an ObamaTax co-op:
"A Vermont regulator said today organizers of a proposed Obamacare health insurance co-op who claimed last week they were "blindsided" were told "from the beginning" of problems with their application to operate in the state."
Oops. As we've noted before, co-ops "are nonprofit, customer-owned health plans, designed to compete against the major for-profit insurers." And, as we've also noted, they don't seem likely to fare very well. Screwing up the initial paperwork is probably not a good sign for Green Mountain State co-op wannabes.
■ Next, news from Oklahoma (okay!):
"Oklahoma attorney general Scott Pruitt has found an ingenious way to call a halt to the Obamacare project: Hold the federal government to the letter of that misbegotten law."
Turns out, the Sooner State is sticking by its guns in its federal lawsuit challenging the train-wreck's (sorry, Max!) constitutionality. As one of the 33 states that took a pass on creating its own Exchange, its citizens stand to get hit with tax penalties that seem pretty blatantly illegal.
'Course, they're only illegal if SCOTUS Chief Roberts says they're illegal.
■ Finally, the Natural State (really!) is trying out a bold new Medicaid experiment:
"Arkansas appears poised to move ahead with a plan that will bring private coverage to a population very close to the poverty level while defanging [the ObamaTax's] controversial Medicaid expansion ... that would allow — if the federal government grants a waiver — those for whom the Medicaid expansion was intended to buy private health insurance through the Arkansas health insurance exchange or marketplace."
If you "get" vouchers, then you'll "get" this: instead of an expensive and ineffectual bureaucracy, you give folks the means to purchase their own coverage, which also reinforces the basic (but recently all but extinct) concept of personal responsibility.
Win-win.
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