Tennessee Governor Bill HaslamNASHVILLE – Republican Gov. Bill Haslam has washed his hands of choosing what benefits will be required in basic health insurance plans sold to individual Tennesseans and small businesses under the federal health care law.
In deciding not to act, Haslam has turned over to the Obama administration a decision that will affect hundreds of thousands of people and small companies.
A number of Republican and some Democratic governors in other states have done the same. Unlike many, Haslam hasn’t shared anything with the general public, instead serving notice of his decision in a letter dated Sunday to U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Katherine Sebelius.
In it, the governor criticizes the 2010 Affordable Care Act and says that after months of reviewing what he complained was vague federal guidance, “I have decided not to select such a plan for Tennessee.”
The deadline for states on how they will define “essential health benefits” was Monday. But some observers question how hard a deadline that actually is.