President Barack Obama warned governors on Monday against attempting to dilute his health care law, while emphasizing his openness to work with states in carrying out the law.
Obama stressed his eagerness to work with states in drawing up their own health care plans over the next few years, according to a report by The Boston Globe.
While some governors remained concerned about the spending cuts that will inevitably follow the implementation of Obama’s health care mandates, the president said that it is crucial to keep the effects of these cuts from reaching public workers.
“I don’t think it does anybody any good when public employees are denigrated or vilified, or their rights are infringed upon,” Obama said.
The importance of maintaining the rights of public employees became a nationally prominent concern following recent budget disputes in Wisconsin.
Most of the opposition to Obama’s health care law came from Republican governors, some of whom have already attempted to overturn the law in their states with lawsuits.
“I was disappointed,” said Gov. Rick Perry, R-Texas, chairman of the Republican Governors Association, according to The Globe.
“Pretty much all he did was reset the clock on what many of us consider a ticking time bomb” that could “crush our budgets.”
Some Republicans doubted whether Obama would remain true to his promises to be flexible when working with states on his health care law.
“Oklahoma wants to do Oklahoma’s own plan,” said Gov. Mary Fallin, R-Okla., according to The Globe.
However, there is a provision in the law allowing states to implement their own health care programs, provided that they meet the same goals that they would have under the president’s plan.
The provision allowing states to propose their own health care agendas was not scheduled to come into effect until 2017, but following proposals by Sen. Scott Brown, R-Mass., and Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., Obama agreed to push this date forward to 2014, according to The Globe.
Obama said that while recent state budget disputes may have made it seem like his stimulus hasn’t proved effective, the relief efforts resulting from the bill have been felt nation wide, The Globe reported.
“It is undeniable that the recovery act helped every single state represented in this room manage your budgets,” Obama said. “Whether you admit it or not.”
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