A bill to set up a healthcare exchange in Michigan has passed its first hurdle in the state Legislature. A House panel today voted to accept more than $30 million from Washington to set up the exchange.
It would be a partnership between the state and the federal government under the Affordable Care Act.
House Appropriations Chair Joe Haveman says the alternative would be a federal exchange with no state control.
“Although it may appear like it was a step in the wrong direction or endorsing Obamacare, this was the conservative vote. The other vote was the liberal vote to say ‘we want the federal government to take us over.’”
Governor Rick Snyder wanted an exchange run entirely by the state. But lawmakers did not act in time, and that’s now off the table.
The bill now goes to the floor of the state House.
