Maine governor considers state plan to replace Obamacare

Maine Gov. Paul LePage said that he may try to create a state health insurance system to replace the Affordable Care Act after the failure of fellow Republican leaders to repeal and replace the federal program that they say is collapsing.

“We are just going to withdraw the state and just go do our own thing,” LePage said. “The federal government obviously is broken so they are not going to stand in the way. They can’t get anything done.”

The governor did not provide details on how he would create a state health insurance system, but suggested it could be modeled on the state’s workers’ compensation insurance system or a law he and the Republican-controlled Legislature had enacted before the ACA launched in 2013.

Although states cannot entirely withdraw from the federal program, some of them have sought and received waivers that allow them to modify the program and customize their insurance markets.

Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald: LePage considers starting Maine health insurance plan to replace Affordable Care Act – Portland Press Herald