Governor Walker gets more time to make Health Care Law decision
By: Erin Davisson
Updated: November 16, 2012
Green Bay, Wis.(WFRV)--New developments on a lingering healthcare decision for Governor Scott Walker.
The White House announced late Thursday that it will extend the deadline for governors to make a decision on how to implement the Affordable Health Care Act.
The deadline was supposed to be Friday. Governors will now have until December 14th to decide.
Wisconsin is among 16 states with Republican governors who resisted implementing the Affordable Health Care Act, often called Obamacare. Those governors asked the President for more time to make a decision, and today they got that. They have one more month to decide how to implement President Obama's health care law. They were seeking more information on how the exchange program would work on both a state and federal level.
Governor Walker was set to announce his decision Friday in a news conference. That telephone news conference will go on as scheduled, but its not known if he will make a decision by then.
In an interview with the New York Times Wednesday, Governor Walker signaled that he's leaning towards a federally-run program.
Local health care providers would like to see a state-run option, but would want to know first how it would be funded.
The CEO of Prevea Health, Dr. Ashok Rai, told Local Five's Caroline Rowland, "Until we know how we are going to pay for it, or what happens if they don't select insurance, it's probably the worst thing to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on an exchange and then nobody goes to it, and right now there isn't a whole lot of incentive for them to go to it."
Governor Walker is still in Las Vegas for the Republican Governors Association Conference.
Everyone will have a clearer idea of his plan after a telephone conference with reporters tomorrow.
The White House announced late Thursday that it will extend the deadline for governors to make a decision on how to implement the Affordable Health Care Act.
The deadline was supposed to be Friday. Governors will now have until December 14th to decide.
Wisconsin is among 16 states with Republican governors who resisted implementing the Affordable Health Care Act, often called Obamacare. Those governors asked the President for more time to make a decision, and today they got that. They have one more month to decide how to implement President Obama's health care law. They were seeking more information on how the exchange program would work on both a state and federal level.
Governor Walker was set to announce his decision Friday in a news conference. That telephone news conference will go on as scheduled, but its not known if he will make a decision by then.
In an interview with the New York Times Wednesday, Governor Walker signaled that he's leaning towards a federally-run program.
Local health care providers would like to see a state-run option, but would want to know first how it would be funded.
The CEO of Prevea Health, Dr. Ashok Rai, told Local Five's Caroline Rowland, "Until we know how we are going to pay for it, or what happens if they don't select insurance, it's probably the worst thing to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on an exchange and then nobody goes to it, and right now there isn't a whole lot of incentive for them to go to it."
Governor Walker is still in Las Vegas for the Republican Governors Association Conference.
Everyone will have a clearer idea of his plan after a telephone conference with reporters tomorrow.
