RSC Members in the Media

The Tennessean, Dec 4 - Tennessee has until Dec. 14 to make a decision on whether to set up a state-run health insurance exchange. The Affordable Care Act forces states to choose between creating a state-run health insurance exchange or allowing the government to create a federally run insurance exchange.

To date, 17 states have indicated they will not participate in setting up an exchange, 10 are undecided and 18 have decided to create state-run insurance exchanges.

While simply choosing to forgo setting up a state-run exchange will not prevent “Obamacare” from coming to Tennessee, I believe there are several reasons why we should refrain from setting up an exchange:

• The sheer logistical nightmare it will create. Tennessee would have to essentially redevelop our state’s insurance market. Not only would this be a monumentally daunting task, it would be an extremely expensive one. Ohio has estimated it will cost $63 million to set up their exchange and $43 million per year to run it. Gov. Nathan Deal of Georgia estimated that it would cost his state millions of dollars in administrative costs alone.

What will states get for the money? Not much. Nebraska Gov. Dave Heineman said that on key issues, his administration was unable to find any operational difference between federal and state exchanges. The federal government will ultimately control exchanges, no matter who creates them. The only difference is that if a state sets up an exchange, it will ultimately have to pay for it.

• To preserve our constitutional separation of powers. When Democrats drafted their health-care law, they assumed states would jump at the chance to set up exchanges in return for federal grants. This hubris led to an enormous problem in the Affordable Care Act. As written, the law only allows state-run exchanges to offer insurance subsidies and to tax employers for failing to provide health insurance. Federally run exchanges can do neither. So the Obama administration blatantly abused its rule-making power and circumvented Congress to rewrite the law by issuing an IRS rule granting federally run exchanges the same powers as state ones.

This violation of the constitutional separation of powers has prompted Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt to file suit. If the federal government sets up an exchange in Tennessee and imposes penalties on employers, then Tennessee businesses also would have the opportunity to challenge this unconstitutional overreach in court, but only if Tennessee refuses to create a state-run exchange.

In Tennessee, we have had a unique experience in the implementation of experimental health-care reforms. TennCare was a program that almost collapsed under its own weight and bankrupted our state. Now, some think that Tennessee should once again risk its finances to orchestrate a federal-style plan that will be controlled by Washington bureaucrats.

The very future of health care and economic growth in Tennessee is at stake. Until the White House can provide guidance to the many unclear directives and unanswered questions, I strongly encourage Tennessee to resist setting up an exchange.

Online: The Tennessean

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Congressman Jim Jordan is Chairman of the Republican Study Committee (RSC).