18 GOP State Governors Defy Health Care Ruling

After last week’s Supreme Court ruling, Republicans across the nation did not hide their disdain for the decision in support of the Affordable Care Act.  Instead, they openly vowed to fight the ruling tooth and nail, even vilifying one of their own, the conservative Chief Justice John Roberts. Now, GOP governors across several states have put into motion efforts to block the law’s implementation  by refusing to carry out two key provisions in an effort to stall until November’s election in hopes of gathering enough votes to repeal it.

At least 18 governors have announced they will not move forward on the law and indicate they may not consider expanding Medicaid, since the court ruled in favor of Republicans saying that the federal government could not require states to expand their Medicaid rolls or threaten to withhold money to those states that did not agree.

In addition, GOP governors have indicated that they will not move forward on creating so-called insurance exchanges set to go into effect in 2014 by law and meant to be the state-based marketplaces where regulated insurance plans will be available for purchase.

Some on the list include Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, Florida Gov. Rick Scott, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal. –torrance stephens