It’s too bad the Affordable Care Act wasn’t dubbed Romneycare – after the Republican who actually pioneered it in Massachusetts. Romney’s program was in fact the model that President Obama used to create what is now known as Obamacare.
Perhaps if the nation, and especially Congress and the many GOP governors around the country, knew the program as Romneycare, they wouldn’t be throwing up so many obstacles to a law aimed at making sure all Americans have health insurance that can’t dump them when they get sick.
Alas, it’s a Democratic president’s program, and it is being held hostage by an obstructionist Congress and lots of state GOP politicians who are busily writing unnecessary rules to stop education and sign-up processes at the 11th hour before it takes full effect Oct. 1.
Tennessee’s Republican governor, Bill Haslam, turned down millions in federal dollars to expand the state’s Medicaid program; now he’s pushing last-minute “emergency rules” for certified application counselors known as “navigators.” Those navigators must go through a state Commerce and Insurance Department registration process that will include a criminal background check and a $35 fee before they can help clients.
State Rep. JoAnne Favors, D-Chattanooga, called the new requirements what they are: “obstructionist.”