Governors warn Congress of healthcare reform law's costs

Republican governors ripped into Democrats' healthcare reform law on Tuesday, testifying before Congress that the law's massive Medicaid expansion and other federal mandates will hurt their states.

Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour and Utah's Gary Herbert told the Energy and Commerce Committee that states were left out of the debate on Capitol Hill over the past couple of years. They also told the sympathetic Republican-led panel that they need much more flexibility to run their own healthcare programs.

"We shouldn't have to come here and kowtow and kiss the ring" of federal officials to get the needed flexibility to run Medicaid, said Barbour, a potential 2012 presidential candidate.

"Believe it or not," Barbour told lawmakers, "we love our constituents as much as you all do. And we want to do right for them. But we want to do what we can afford and can sustain."

Governors made that case repeatedly over the weekend, during their winter meeting of the National Governors Association. President Obama told them Monday that he'd heard their message and wants to work with them to reform Medicaid and find alternative ways to achieve near-universal healthcare coverage.

The administration is walking a fine line on the issue, as state executives threaten tax increases and massive cuts to education and social services if they have to meet the law's requirements. At the same time, the White House is reluctant to weaken its signature domestic achievement by allowing states to offer weaker benefits than called for by the law.

Obama's Department of Health and Human Services has been cautiously offering states more flexibility to run their Medicaid programs, but has fallen short of Republicans' request of a block grant to do with as they want. Medicaid advocates packed the hearing room Tuesday and have made it clear that doing so would be unacceptable.

"While there is no doubt that these state budget problems are serious and warrant attention, taking health care away from millions of American seniors and children is the wrong response," a coalition of several dozen groups wrote to lawmakers Tuesday. "What the Governors propose would undercut the remarkable gains we've made in recent years in insuring our nation's children and imperil the availability of long-term services and supports for seniors and people with disabilities."

Gov. Deval Patrick (D-Mass.) offered a counterweight, saying the law's tax credits for businesses, payment incentives for quality care and other benefits would be a boon to his state.

"The Affordable Care Act is good for America," he testified, "and deserves a chance to be implemented."