Instead, the governors want the federal government to provide federal money and let the states determine how to fix the health care crisis.
“Just give us a full-scale block grant, not only for money but for responsibility,” Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker said. “Give the resources and the responsibility back to the states. That’s what our founders intended. It actually works. Obamacare doesn’t work right now. It’s failing most states in the nation.”
Walker and the other governors on the panel, Eric Greitens of Missouri, Mary Fallin of Oklahoma, Doug Burgum of North Dakota and Phil Bryant of Mississippi, shared horror stories of individual buyers’ insurance premiums soaring while coverage deteriorated, particularly in rural areas.
Most of the 33 Republican governors in the U.S. are in Aspen for an annual summer conference. The Institute takes advantage of their presence to invite a panel of governors each year to discuss the hot topics of the day as part of the McCloskey Speaker Series.
There was no discussion among the Republican governors of the 20-plus million people nationwide who gained health care coverage under the Affordable Healthcare Act or how constituents in their states would be affected by proposed rollbacks in Medicaid coverage. Of the five states represented on the panel, only North Dakota participated in the Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act. Missouri, Wisconsin, Oklahoma and Mississippi are .
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