A bill sponsored by Republican state Rep. Andrew Manuse to prevent New Hampshire from setting up and running a health insurance exchange passed on Thursday by an overwhelming margin.
Some supporters of the measure saw the bill as a way to save the state money it would need to spend to establish the exchange.
"Contrary to some of the misinformation circulating in Concord, a state-run health insurance exchange bureaucracy operating on behalf of the federal government is a bad idea, is not required by any federal regulation and would be an expensive strain on our state budget," wrote Charlie Arlinghaus, president of the right-leaning think tank, The Josiah Bartlett Center, in an editorial published last month in the New Hampshire Union Leader.
But for other supporters, the bill was primarily a method by which they could lodge a protest against the Affordable Care Act.
"This bill as amended would be the state's best response to the President's federal act because it would contribute to a nationwide effort by a majority of states to force the amendment, repeal or replacement of this bad public healthcare policy," Manuse said in his speech on the House floor in support of his bill.
Opponents of the bill blocking the health insurance exchanges see the measure as nothing more than political grandstanding.
"This legislation is about wishful thinking and political posturing. It's not about being prepared, it is not about the state looking ahead for how we can do a better job for our citizens, its not about how we can meet the challenges of a changing healthcare landscape," said Democratic Rep. Donna Schlachman during debate in the House.
The measure, which passed by a vote of 219-94 and now moves on to the New Hampshire Senate, is not the first law aimed at throwing a monkey wrench into implementation of the Affordable Care Act in the Granite State.
Last year, legislators passed a law aimed to establish an oversight committee that must first approve any attempts by the state insurance commissioner to implement any portion of the federal health reform law. It also created a law that prevents the federal government from fining New Hampshire citizens if they choose not to buy health insurance, as required under the law beginning in 2014.
The bill passed this week only prevents New Hampshire from implementing and running its own health insurance exchange. If approved by the Senate, the New Hampshire insurance exchange will, by default, be run by the federal government.