One thing I noticed in reading the Affordable Care Act legislation is there is no provision for clawing back federal funds when a state's ObamaCare exchange exchange fails. This fact helped Oregon and Massachusetts decide to drop their exchanges and it will help Kentucky.
Kentucky received $253 million in federal funds to set up an ObamaCare exchange. Beshear failed to gain legislative approval for the exchange and the 2014 budget bill defunded it.
A bipartisan bill in Rhode Island would defund their state exchange and accept the federal government's offer to pick up the tab.
"This bill is not an effort to protest the enactment of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) in Rhode Island, or to interfere in its operation. It is about a $40 million a year expense we cannot afford. Rhode Islanders can take advantage of the ACA without the state spending $40 million a year," said State Representative Patricia Morgan, prime sponsor of the bill."
Another state official I spoke to said concern about being forced to reimburse the federal government for grant funds received by the state was the only thing holding their effort back. They need not worry. Obama doesn't want the public relations nightmare of going after states that tried to help him with his unworkable law but failed.
Kentucky defunded its ObamaCare efforts last month. Gov. Beshear remains in denial about the fate of his "legacy" item, but there is now really no legitimate reason to keep hanging on.
Give it up, Governor.
