By Julian Pecquet | The Hill
Published December 14, 2011
Critics are accusing Gov. Nikki Haley (R-S.C.) of wasting more than $100,000in federal tax dollars on what critics call a “sham” analysis of how toimplement President Obama’s healthcare reform law in her state.
The governor applied for and received a $1 million federal grant to plan forhealth insurance exchanges, which will go online in 2014. In states that don’tset up their own exchanges, the federal government will run things.
Haley established thenonpartisan South Carolina Health Planning Committee on March 10 with the statedintention of determining “whether or not the state should establish a healthinsurance exchange,” The Post and Courier reports. But internal records obtained by the newspaper suggest Haley had her mind set onwhat the panel’s conclusion should be before it ever met.
“The whole point of this commission should be to figure out how to opt outand how to avoid a federal takeover, NOT create a state exchange,” Haley said ina March 31 email obtained by the paper under the state’s public records law.
A spokesman for the Haley administration told The Post and Courierthat the governor was “watching out for the citizens of our state as we try todeliver the most health care for the least amount of money.”
Haley’s comments also raise questions about what other Republican-led statesare doing with their healthcare reform grants. Every state except Alaska appliedfor and received $1 million exchange planning grants last year.
The Haley administration has spent at least $109,000 of its grant on thepanel and its four subcommittees. Panelists who have attended more than 30meetings over the past seven months expressed outrage.
“This confirms this whole thing was an effort to justify the million-dollargrant,” Frank Knapp, the president of the pro-reform South Carolina SmallBusiness Chamber of Commerce, told the newspaper. “But the reality is they hadno intention of even exploring whether the state should establish an exchange —which is exactly what the grant called for.”
Original article:Â http://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/199453-republican-governor-accused-of-wasting-tax-dollars-on-preordained-health-reform-study