Enter the States. Stage RIGHT

6 states to watch on health reform Politico looks at it with emphasis on the left. They do have Wisconsin and Alaska, but how can they leave out Virginia? Well, they are inside the beltway guys.

Walker OKs Wisconsin joining health care lawsuit Plus a look at (outgoing Gov. and presidential candidate) Minnesota's PawlentyCare:

Suppose we had a system whereby the government gave our employers control of our housing. That is, instead of a mortgage-interest tax deduction, the home you occupy would be a non-taxable benefit. You would live in it for as long as your employers’ HR manager decided, and would have to move whenever she decided to change benefits. Furthermore, when you needed a new refrigerator, for example, you wouldn’t go out and buy a new one, but go to an in-network kitchen-appliance dispensary where you’d pay a $20 co-pay to pick up the fridge that was on the list of kitchen appliances available to employees of your firm.

I continue to hedge my criticism by noting that Pawlenty has unambiguously championed reforming the federal tax code to allow individuals and families to control their health dollars. Furthermore, because a state has more general powers than the federal government, it may be more appropriate for a governor to take a greater operational interest in health care than a president should.

Let the play begin.

More. In tandem with a Republican House:

Conservatives should wrap their repeal-and-replace efforts into bipartisan discussions about how to fix the budget and improve the U.S. economy through tax reform (the employer deduction should be scrapped and replaced with a tax credit) and by seriously considering the Ryan-Rivlin plan as a starting point for making Medicaid and Medicare sustainable. Both would go a long way towards improving incentives in health-care markets. And if we can do that, as Hyman points out, “most of the big problems will take care of themselves,” leaving policymakers with a “far smaller and more tractable set of problems.”

ObamaCare repeal starts. Reaction from the reactionary left, and reaction to that:

But polls have found that other aspects of the bill, including the individual mandate to buy insurance, aren't popular with the public.

"Maybe it's not ideal — it's certainly not communism," Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) said of the individual mandate, according to the Toledo Blade.

Well, these guys have cut Medicare Advantage so don't pretend you care. As for not being a commie--talk about being damned with faint praise for yourself.