What Will Tennessee Do About New Federal Health Care Program?

Republican Gov. Bill Haslam appears to prefer to have Tennessee design its own health insurance exchange required under Democratic President Barack Obama’s health care law. But resistance in the GOP-controlled General Assembly may cause the state to hand that power off to the federal government.
States have until Friday to inform the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services whether they plan to set up their own health insurance markets.
Haslam says that while he opposes the federal health care law, he believes the state could do a better job of running the exchanges than the federal government.
But he acknowledges that it would be a tough vote for fellow Republicans in the Legislature, who chalked up big gains in last week’s election due in large part to their opposition to Obama’s policies.