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   From: presicoon@live.com   
      
   MILWAUKEE –  Democratic governors say they are nervous about   
   getting the new federal health care law implemented but add they   
   will be better positioned in next year's elections than many of   
   their Republican counterparts who have resisted the far-reaching   
   and politically polarizing measure.   
      
   Several of the 12 Democratic governors shared that sense of   
   nervousness-veiled-by-optimism at the National Governors   
   Association meeting Saturday in Milwaukee.   
      
   "There's some angst, and you can see that from the decision the   
   administration made a couple weeks ago," said Delaware Gov. Jack   
   Markell. "There's a lot of work to do."   
      
   By next Jan. 1, most people will be required to have insurance.   
   States have to set up exchanges by Oct. 1, when uninsured   
   individuals can start buying subsidized private health coverage   
   that would go into effect Jan 1, and businesses with more than   
   50 employees working 30 or more hours a week were supposed to   
   offer affordable health care to their workers or risk a series   
   of escalating tax penalties.   
      
   But businesses said they needed more time, and on July 2,   
   President Barack Obama's administration abruptly extended the   
   deadline one year -- to Jan. 1, 2015.   
      
   That caused some Democrats in Congress to worry the program   
   would not be ready on time, as states are building online   
   platforms for their residents to use to comply with the law.   
   Although the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the Affordable Care Act   
   in June 2012, the Republican-controlled House has voted 40 times   
   since Obama signed the law in 2010 to repeal, defund or scale it   
   back, most recently Friday.   
      
   As Congress prepared to head home for a five-week recess, Obama   
   sought to calm jittery Democrats, assuring them that they are   
   "on the right side of history" despite problems with the law's   
   launch.   
      
   Republicans have stated openly they plan to use the slow   
   economic recovery and the health care law to attack Democrats in   
   the 2014 congressional elections.   
      
   But Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad, a Republican, said GOP governors   
   could get blamed next year, even if they worked to meet its   
   requirements, a situation that could be aggravated by   
   Republicans in the U.S. House who continue to hold votes to   
   attack it.   
      
   "My approach is not to complain about things, but to get it done   
   best we can," said Branstad, who has been a vocal critic of the   
   law. "It's our responsibility."   
      
   Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, the governors' host and a possible   
   2016 Republican presidential prospect, said Obama delayed the   
   employer mandate out of fear that voters would blame Democrats   
   in the 2014 elections if the economy suffered as a result of the   
   new law.   
      
   "A cynic would be right to say the reason they pushed back the   
   employer mandate had little to nothing to do with policy and   
   everything to do with politics," Walker said.   
      
   Most of the two dozen governors from both parties gathered at   
   the conference expressed confidence that their states would be   
   ready on time, especially Democrats, although they said the work   
   is daunting.   
      
   "Any time you go and make this much change in this short a   
   period of time, it does cause headaches," Colorado Gov. John   
   Hickenlooper said.   
      
   But with that pain comes progress, Hickenlooper and others   
   argued. And those Republicans who have resisted or delayed   
   taking action will pay the price.   
      
   Long before election day, the philosophical debate over the bill   
   will have turned into a practical reality for millions of newly   
   insured voters.   
      
   "Choosing ideology over jobs and affordable health care is a   
   false choice, and it's an example of the differences between   
   Republicans and Democrats," Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin, a   
   Democrat, said.   
      
   Among the challenges states are encountering are the   
   technological requirements to allow buyers to search for   
   insurers, rates and benefits on the exchanges. Others are   
   training state employees to administer the program and marketing   
   it to millions of Americans, all during a time of strained state   
   budgets. Marketing employees were often among the first to lose   
   their jobs.   
      
   Despite the headaches, the alternative to the status quo is far   
   worse, Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley said.   
      
   "Nothing could be more complicated than doing what we were doing   
   before, which was to throw away more and more money on more   
   expensive care for worse results," said O'Malley, a Democrat   
   also mulling a 2016 White House run.   
      
   http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/08/03/democratic-governors-   
   nervous-about-obamacare/?intcmp=obnetwork   
      
        
      
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