Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty Rejects All Funds From Reform Bill

Written by Leigh Page | September 02, 2010

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Tim Pawlenty, Minnesota's Republican governor, has issued an executive order rejecting all funds from the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the healthcare reform law, according to a report by Minnesota Public Radio.

The law "represents a dramatic attempt to assert federal command and control over this country's healthcare system," the order states, adding that it "includes unprecedented federal intrusions into individual liberty, including the mandate that individual citizens are compelled to purchase health insurance under penalty of law."

Mr. Pawlenty's order, addressed to state agencies, reads: "No application shall be submitted to the federal government in connection with requests for grant funding for programs and demonstration projects deriving from the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act."

However, Mr. Pawlenty told the Minneapolis Star-Tribune he will probably accept $263 million earmarked for Minnesota from federal Medicaid enhancements for states next year, passed mainly by Democrats in Congress over GOP opposition. "We're going to take the money for those things that we were going to do anyhow and for the Medicaid (money), we were going to do that anyhow," he said.

Read more coverage about Medicaid:

- House Sends $16B in Federal Medicaid Assistance to President for Signature

- Big Medicaid Cuts Possible Next Year, With Federal Support Due to End

- Minnesota Medical Professional Groups Urge Legislators to Use Medicaid, Not Revamped State Plan

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