Already a number of Republican governors are dealing with pressure from hard right constituents to resist implementing Obamacare as much as they can, particularly focusing on refusing to set up state exchanges on the presumption that doing so will overwhelm the federal government and stall out the new law. Some of them suggested that they're on board with this plan, but right now, it looks like most are getting cold feet, except Bobby Jindal of Louisiana, who claims he's going to refuse to create the exchange this week. States also have to decide if they're going to accept the Medicaid expansion, which the Alabama governor has refused alongside the state exchange.

The former Confederate states already perform poorly on many measures of citizen's health compared to other states, and this kind of ideological posturing about "states rights" can't help. Women and children will likely suffer the most, as is customary in these kinds of situations. Just this morning, Mississippi yet again topped the list of states with high infant mortality, with over nine babies per 1,000 dying before their first birthday. The teen pregnancy rate seems to drift upwards as you move south, as does the unplanned pregnancy rate. Both are associated with higher negative health outcomes for both mothers and children. Guess it's easy for these conservative governors to preen about states rights, when it's someone else who will be paying the price for their ideology.



http://www.slate.com..._health_care.html