A group of Democratic national legislators from Wisconsin sent Gov. Scott Walker a letter Tuesday urging him to pursue a state-based health insurance exchange as the Nov. 16 deadline to report a plan to implement the Affordable Care Act approaches.
Walker put off making a decision until after last week’s election in the hopes Republican Mitt Romney would be elected president, the GOP would gain control of the Senate and the ACA would be then be repealed. However, since Democrats retained control of the White House and Senate, Walker must notify federal officials how Wisconsin will implement the law by Friday.
Outgoing U.S. Sen. Herb Kohl, Sen.-Elect Tammy Baldwin, U.S. Rep. Ron Kind, U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore and U.S. Rep.-Elect Mark Pocan said in the letter Wisconsin has one of the “strongest health care systems in the country” and is “uniquely positioned to manage its own insurance marketplace,” instead of having the federal government operate the exchange.
Underscoring the partisan contention surrounding the ACA, the Campaign for Liberty, a tea party-aligned group, said nine state legislators from Wisconsin support legislation that would arrest federal officials who implement the law, which is scheduled to go into effect Jan. 1, 2014.
