February 22, 2011 9:30AM

Two Reasons Governors Should Stop Implementing ObamaCare

By Michael F. Cannon

The Washington Post reports:

Practically every week, a Republican governor or lawmaker announces a new effort to kill the health‐​care law or undercut its implementation.

Unfortunately, many of those same governors are still implementing the law when they should be outright refusing to do so.


In my Kaiser Health News column today, I offer two reasons why (at least) Republican governors should stop implementing ObamaCare:

Swearing an oath to support the Constitution also obligates governors to use lawful means to prevent its unlawful abuse. Governors who believe ObamaCare to be unconstitutional are as duty‐​bound to stop implementing the law as they are to challenge it in court…


It is the height of fiscal irresponsibility to be making new spending commitments (1) when the federal deficit is $1.5 trillion and state budget deficits are a cumulative $175 billion, (2) when those new commitments create a framework for a massive new entitlement program, and (3) when that new spending comes under the auspices of a law that has been invalidated by one federal court and may be invalidated by the nation’s highest court.

So far, the only governors I’ve seen take a firm stand against implementing the law are Rick Scott (R‑FL) and Sean Parnell (R‑AK), who respectively govern the fourth‐​largest and the fourth‐​smallest states. (Disclosure: I served on Rick Scott’s transition team.)