ObamaCare Battle Isn't Over Yet

Those who thought the ObamaCare battle was settled by Chief Justice John Roberts' decision last June are in for a shock. States are still wrestling with the question of whether or not they will set up a health insurance exchange, which is the key to participating in the law called the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Sixteen states, including Virginia, Wisconsin, Ohio and Missouri, have told the feds that they refuse to set up a health exchange, which means it falls to the federal government to set up exchanges for those states. Only 17 states have committed to set up a health exchange as ObamaCare expected. Among the good reasons for states to say No is that an exchange would cost each state between $10 million and $100 million a year, and that would require tax increases.

A state-created exchange provides a mechanism for Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to impose one-size-fits-all rules on insurance products sold in that state. Can the federal government, big as it is, cope with this task? It could take two or three years to build the technology.

Another way states can throw a roadblock in ObamaCare and also reduce their own spending is by making a second decision not to sign on to ObamaCare's expansion of Medicaid. The Supreme Court decision assured the states of their right to say No to participation in this Medicaid expansion.

ObamaCare is a massive and costly double-barreled entitlement expansion. Overnight, it will add 30 million people to the government's entitlement rolls. The esteemed commentator Thomas Sowell said it best: "It is amazing that people who think we cannot afford to pay for doctors, hospitals, and medication somehow think that we can afford to pay for doctors, hospitals, medication AND a government bureaucracy to administer it." It doesn't make sense.

Listen to the radio commentary here: