Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam (R) announced Monday that Tennessee would not create a health insurance exchange in line with President Obama’s health care reform law. In a press release, Haslam said the decision came after “months of consideration” and was not a “political decision.”
“In weighing all of the information we currently have, I informed the federal government today that Tennessee will not run a state-based exchange,” Haslam said. “If conditions warrant in the future and it makes sense at a later date for Tennessee to run the exchange, we would consider that as an option at the appropriate time.”
He continued: “This decision comes after months of consideration and analysis. It is a business decision based on what is best for Tennesseans with the information we have now that we’ve pressed hard to receive from Washington. If this were a political decision, it would’ve been easy, and I would’ve made it a long time ago.”
With Haslam’s decision, 21 states have now declined to create insurance exchanges, according to the Huffington Post.
