Idaho Governor Bans ObamaCare

Idaho Governor C.L. “Butch” Otter vetoed a bill passed by the Idaho State Legislature that would have made ObamaCare illegal in the state. Then, Gov. Otter issued an executive order doing the exact same thing.

The Idaho Senate passed the nullification bill (H.B. 298) on April 5, but Otter says that the bill went too far and would have backfired. In his letter to Idaho Secretary of State Ben Ysursa explaining his reason to veto, Otter wrote that H.B. 298 not only would have banned the implementation of ObamaCare, but also would have prevented the state from setting up its own insurance exchanges, which every state must do under ObamaCare or else the federal government will do it for them. Otter’s reason to veto was to keep federal bureaucrats out of Idaho’s business.
Otherwise, Otter’s executive order is quite similar to H.B. 298. At its core, the order states that “[n]o executive branch department, agency, institution or employee of the state shall establish or amend any program or promulgate any rule to implement any provisions” of the Affordable Care Act.