Obama will support letting states opt out of health care law earlier

Obama will support letting states opt out of health care law earlier

BY BILL LAMBRECHT • blambrecht@post-dispatch.com > 202-298-6880 St. Louis Post-Dispatch | Posted: Monday, February 28, 2011 1:56 pm | (9) Comments

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WASHINGTON • With the new health-care law under frequent attack, President Barack Obama said today he would support legislation letting states construct their own insurance system as early as 2014.

The president told a group of governors gahtered in Washington for the National Governors Association winter meeting that that states should be able to cancel the individual mandate or have flexibility to other make changes three years earlier than the 2017 date prescribed by the law.

"I think that's a reasonable proposal. I support it," Obama told governors gathered at the White House, referring to legislation in Congress.

White House aides later spelled out some stiff criteria that states would need to meet in order to obtain waivers: Their plans would have to be as comprehensive and affordable as coverage available in the new private insurance markets called exchanges.

In addition, a state insurance plan would need to cover as many people as the exchanges -- and it could not increase the federal deficit.

In Missouri, the GOP-led General Assembly is pushing for Missouri to join states formally challenging provisions of the health-care law.

Govs. Jay Nixon of Missouri and Pat Quinn of Illinois were among state chief executives on hand this weekend for the governors' gathering.

Some of the governors expressed worry about mounting Medicaid costs and pressing for the increased flexibility that would come from receiving their allotments in block grants.

Obama told governors he wasn't keen on the idea, an administration official told reporters this afternoon.

"He raised concerns that block grants could conceivably leave children vulnerable," said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Obama referred to today to the ongoing fight in Wisconsin over a proposal to strip public employees of collective bargaining rights.

"I don't think it does anybody any good when public employees are denigrated or vilified or their rights are infringed upon," Obama told the governors, not mentioning Wisconsin by name.

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