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GOP Governors Hedge Bets On Health Insurance Exchanges

 Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley is among several GOP governors accepting grant money to set up health insurance exchanges while also challenging the health overhaul law in court.
Dave Martin
/
AP
Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley is among several GOP governors accepting grant money to set up health insurance exchanges while also challenging the health overhaul law in court.

Obama administration officials have announced another round of grants to states to help build the insurance marketplaces, called "exchanges," that will help individuals and small businesses buy health insurances beginning in 2014.

But the real news is who's getting the $220 million. Nine of the 13 states in this round of grants are headed by GOP governors.

Seven of those GOP governors are part of the accepted earlier this month by the Supreme Court to test the constitutionality of a key element of President Obama's health overhaul law. The money for the grants derives from that law.

Conservatives who want the entire law invalidated have cringed at state executives who are, in their eyes, undermining their opposition by accepting money to implement the measure.

More likely, the GOP governors are simply being practical, because failing to set up an exchange won't stop it from happening. That's how Chiquita Brooks-LaSure , director of coverage policy for the Department of Health and Human Services, sees it.

"They know that if they don't establish an exchange for 2014, then (the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services) will establish one in their state," Brooks-LaSure told reporters.

For those of you , the seven states receiving grant money while also challenging the law in court are: Alabama, Arizona, Idaho, Iowa, Maine, Michigan and Nebraska.

Alaska, Florida, Kansas and Oklahoma appear to be the only states that are refusing all federal funds associated with the 2010 law.

Copyright 2020 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Julie Rovner is a health policy correspondent for NPR specializing in the politics of health care.Reporting on all aspects of health policy and politics, Rovner covers the White House, Capitol Hill, the Department of Health and Human Services in addition to issues around the country. She served as NPR's lead correspondent covering the passage and implementation of the 2010 health overhaul bill, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.