States can ask Washington for a waiver from other provisions, such as the law's mandate that all individuals get insurance — but they would have to cover as many people, provide the same level of benefits and not raise the federal deficit.
Who likes this?
On the other hand, the president's move was applauded by lawmakers in Vermont who want to go even further than the federal law, which is designed to cover 32 million more Americans with health insurance. The law will expand Medicaid and create a system of health exchanges, or marketplaces, in which insurers compete for customers.I'm excited to see if Vermont can do to the Single Payer system what Mitt Romney did to affordable universal healthcare.
