Haslam’s Still No Fan Of Obamacare, But He’s Rooting For Tennessee’s Exchange To Work

The governor says he hopes the exchange “works well,” even though he hasn’t offered to help make it successful. Credit: TN Photo Services via Flickr

As enrollment opens for new health insurance exchanges, Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam says he’s rooting for them to succeed…at least as long as the Affordable Care Act is “the law of the land.”

The state’s Republican leader opted not to run an online insurance marketplace for people without coverage through their work. And some recent regulatory moves have been viewed by Obamacare advocates as an attempt to obstruct implementation.

“In our case, the federal government is going to be running the exchange. So they have the responsibility for implementing that. But certainly if it’s in place, we want it to work well.”

However, Tennessee lags behind other states in efforts to recruit participants into the insurance exchange, known as “The Marketplace.”

Specifics on the state’s 59 health plans and their costs will be available starting Tuesday at healthcare.gov.