States React to Health Care Ruling

State governors are reacting on Friday to the Supreme Court's decision to uphold almost all of the Affordable Care Act as deadlines to comply with the 2010 law approach.

Under the health reform law, states will have to set up health insurance exchanges for those without coverage to compare plans and purchase insurance by Jan. 1, 2014. In May, the Obama administration set a mid-November deadline for states to submit exchange proposals to the federal government. States that don't meet deadlines to comply will risk having the federal government come in and do it for them. Only about a dozen states, including California and Oregon, are far along in the process, according to the Associated Press.

They will also have to decide whether to expand Medicaid, which Slate's Matt Yglesias explains further.

Since the Supreme Court upheld the act, those states that have complied with the law and started exchanges already are going forward and preparing to implement the new health care law:

—Hailing the court ruling, Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley said the state would continue with its exchange.

—New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo also hailed the decision and Obama’s leadership in bringing measures that will provide insurance for more than 1 million New Yorkers. The administration will go forward in accepting the health care overhaul by implementing the exchange.

Others will wait until November, citing the practical argument that GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney says he would repeal the law if elected:

—Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback will make a decision after the presidential election, according to the Associated Press. In August, he returned a $31.5 million federal grant for the health insurance exchange.

—New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie will also wait until the election. Christie clarified that he plans on complying with all hard deadlines set forth in the law.

Still other states are more loudly refusing grants and cooperation despite the ruling:

—Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal claims that it doesn’t make sense to implement Obamacare and that the state is committed to doing what they can to “fight it.”

—Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker refuses to accept the law or phase in any part of it and has declared that just because the court ruled it legal “doesn’t make it right.”

Some states are unclear about the decision because governors are too busy declaring themselves kings of hyperbole:

—Calling for a repeal, Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley is “deeply disappointed" and called the act the worst legislation to ever come out of Congress.

—Texas Gov. Rick Perry calls the decision a “stomach punch to the American economy.” He claims the act (a “monstrosity”) violates constitutional limits.

For more, the Associated Press provides a helpful guide to the standing of health care law in all 50 states before Thursday's ruling.