RLCNH - lawsuit claiming that HB 1297 prohibits a partnership exchange as a type of state exchange

A lawsuit claiming that HB 1297 prohibits a partnership exchange as a type of state exchange may be worth pursuing. Also, Gov. Hassan should not be doing anything without first getting approval from the Oversight Committee we created. If you approved a partnership with the condition of a Memo of Understanding, then quite simply, that MOU is required before the governor can move forward, regardless of what the feds say.

UPDATED: Legislative panel refuses to endorse health insurance exchange provisions

www.unionleader.com

CONCORD — New Hampshire has been awarded a $5.3 million federal grant to help implement a health i...

AFPNH - Outrageous

Granite State Gatherings April 10 – Greg Moore at Belknap County Republican Committee at 6:30 pm at the Top of the Town Restaurant, 88 Ladd Hill Rd, Belmont. Click herefor more information. April 11 – NRCC Monthly Meeting at 6:30PM at the Crowne Plaza in Nashua. Click here for more information. April 13 – Hillsborough County GOP Committee Meeting at 8:30AM at Merrimack Town Council Meeting Room. Click here for more information. April 13 – Manchester Democrats Meeting at 10AM at Manchester Public Library. Click here for more information. April 13 – Carroll County GOP Lincoln Day Dinner at 5:30PM at Red Jacket Mountain View Resort. Click here for more information. April 14 – Gilsum Town Democratic Caucus at 4PM. Click here for more information. April 18 – Manchester GOP Committee Meeting at 6PM at NHIOP.

The Senate is currently considering the House-passed budget which includes funding for the expansion of Medicaid in New Hampshire under ObamaCare. The expansion is optional and up to the state. I encourage you to contact your Senator and ask them to oppose ObamaCare’s Medicaid expansion in New Hampshire. CLICK HERE to find your Senator and their contact information. The expansion of Medicaid represents an unaffordable assault on our state’s taxpayers. A recent national study by the Heritage Foundation shows that putting up to 80,000 new recipients on Medicaid will cost our citizens another $126 million in costs over the next 8 years. It is an outrageous and unacceptable burden to ask our citizens to carry the cost of the failing Obama health care scheme.  New Hampshire should not implement an optional Medicaid expansion that will only make health care more costly and ultimately add huge new tax hikes to the small businesses and working families of New Hampshire. CLICK HERE to find your Senator and tell them today that you oppose Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion! Medicaid is already the largest item in the state budget. Expanding it under Obama's healthcare takeover will only lead to higher taxes and increased costs for existing health care coverage.  CLICK HERE to find your Senator and tell them we cannot afford another unfunded mandate from the federal government. Thank you for your efforts to oppose Obama's Medicaid expansion! Sincerely,  Greg Moore State Director Americans for Prosperity New Hampshire

ALG's Daily Grind - Obama's jobless recovery

April 10, 2013

Obama's jobless recovery

The U.S. economy created only 88,000 jobs in March, well below the 130,000 total needed to keep pace with population growth.

Car loans you can't afford the next subprime

ALG's Wilson: "It's just debt for debt's sake, not to help build future production or earnings, but to simply fuel consumption."

Cut fingers, cancer, bats and birds

A May 2012 sighting of an endangered Indiana brown bat in a northern Georgia tree has triggered federal regulations requiring that state road projects not "harm, kill or harass" bats.

Washington Post: For insurance exchanges, states need 'navigators' — and hiring them is a huge task

States will need to hire tens of thousands of "navigators" just to figure out how to implement Obamacare's insurance exchanges.

Co-Chair of Joint Health Care Reform Oversight Committee Invites Governor Hassan to Explain Status of MOU

CONCORD – Today John B. Hunt (R-Rindge), Co-Chair of the Joint Health Care Reform Oversight Committee, hand delivered the following letter to Governor Hassan’s office, inviting her to attend the committee’s meeting Tuesday morning. In prior communication with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Governor referenced explicitly that, “This letter of intent is provided with the understanding that the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) governing the expectations, roles and responsibilities of the State of New Hampshire in a Partnership Exchange will not impose a cost on the state's general fund or create new state programs.” It is the impression of Rep. Hunt and of others on the Joint Health Care Reform Oversight Committee that despite previous commitments, an MOU is no longer being pursued.

The letter is attached and reads as follows:

Governor Margaret Hassan

State House
107 North Main Street
Concord, NH 03301

April 8^th, 2013

Your Excellency,

As you are aware, the Joint Health Care Reform Oversight Committee will be meeting at 8:00A.M. on Tuesday, April 8, in room 302 of the LOB.  The committee is planning to review and possibly approve the MOU between the State of New Hampshire and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services as referenced in your letter of intent to the Secretary on February 13, 2012.  (“This letter of intent is provided with the understanding that the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) governing the expectations, roles, and responsibilities of the State of New Hampshire in a Partnership Exchange will not impose a cost on the state’s general fund or create new state programs.”)

Unfortunately, we have been unable to obtain a copy of the MOU from your staff or the Department of Insurance after repeated requests.  Most recently they have informed us they have unilaterally decided not to execute an MOU despite approval of the partnership letter which included the requirement of a MOU, as well as your previous commitment to work in collaboration with the state legislature on such a document to ensure that New Hampshire maintains flexibility and taxpayers are protected financially.  If true, this is very troubling development. 

Like you, we wish to work collaboratively with the executive branch to ensure that if New Hampshire moves forward with a Partnership Exchange we do so in a way that promotes preservation of private health insurance to the greatest degree possible, minimizes overhead and administrative expenses of the exchange, promotes competition and consumer choice, and preserves the state’s insurance regulatory authority and the state’s flexibility in determining Medicaid eligibility standards, program design, and operations.  That is exactly what the MOU is supposed to help us do. 

Therefore, as co-chairman of the Joint Health Care Reform Oversight Committee I am respectfully requesting that you attend our meeting on April 8^th so that we can discuss the status of the MOU and the process for moving forward.  If due to the late date of this letter you are unable to attend please send whoever in your office is authorized to discuss this issue on your behalf.

Respectfully,

Rep. John Hunt

NH House Republican Leaders Comment on Bill to Prevent Medicaid Expansion in New Hampshire

CONCORD – Today House Republican Leader Gene G. Chandler (R-Bartlett) and Assistant House Republican Leader John Hunt (R-Rindge) offered the following comments relative to the public hearing on House Bill 271, a bill that would prohibit the expansion of Medicaid in New Hampshire as part of Obamacare.

House Republican Leader Gene Chandler (R-Bartlett)

“We already know that expanding Medicaid will cost New Hampshire taxpayers a minimum of $85 million. Proponents of Obamacare are quick to tout potential benefits but they fail to explain how we will finance this huge increase in government spending during a very difficult budget season. This is money the State simply does not have. Moreover, even if the Federal government honors its commitments in the short-term, we know that federal funding for the program will be decreased over the next seven years, leaving Granite Staters to pick up the true cost of this expansion going forward. We all want better healthcare, but we must be honest with taxpayers about the price tag of a government takeover.”

Assistant House Republican Leader John Hunt (R-Rindge)

“Throughout the 2012 campaign, we heard the constant calls to restore funding to essential state services that may have been cut in the prior budget. Now, we hear the constant calls to open up the checkbook to fund the various costs of implementing a brand new program. We cannot and should not be forced to overlook programs like CHINS in favor of expansive new programs, that in the end, the federal government hasn’t even committed to fully fund in the long term. House Bill 271 would allow us to focus on matters at home rather than spend money recklessly as part of a federal mandate.”