State-Based Health Bill Loses Speed - Politico (Will This Mess With Vermont's UHC ???)

[WillyT]

State-based health bill loses speed
By: Matt DoBias - Politico
September 7, 2011 11:17 PM EDT

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The Republican presidential candidates have been pushing for a state-based approach to health reform — but a Senate proposal to allow that to happen through the national health reform law has vanished from the congressional agenda.

That’s because the proposal — a bipartisan bill by Sens. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Scott Brown (R-Mass.) — didn’t allow the sweeping Medicaid changes Republicans want and didn’t come along at a time when either party wanted to reopen the health care law. Even President Barack Obama’s endorsement wasn’t enough to breathe life into the idea.

The bill’s failure means the GOP presidential contenders will be free to campaign on their ideal health reform vision — which gives governors a wide berth to tailor their own health care systems, including the ability to set Medicaid eligibility levels, develop new coverage options and determine provider payments.

The vision, detailed most recently by Mitt Romney yet embraced by nearly all of the candidates, hinges on repealing Obama’s overhaul law and then replacing it with rules that tilt the reform responsibility to the statehouse, not the White House.

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More: http://dyn.politico.com/printstory.cfm?uuid=7038DBCA-38B3-4013-99D2-2F57ABBF130D

Will this hose-up Vermont's Universal Health Care???

:shrug: