An editorial in today’s Wall Street Journal notes the reason more than half of the states have declined to create an ObamaCare “exchange” is that operating them would be a nightmare for states:

The conservatives telling the states to join ObamaCare are disconnected from this reality. Otherwise sane people like the budget expert Doug Holtz-Eakin and former Utah Governor Mike Leavitt argue that exchanges are a good idea and states are giving the federal government more power by not developing one. Their reasoning (we use the term loosely) managed to peel off Idaho Governor Butch Otter and a few other Republicans.

We also held out this hope when ObamaCare was more abstract, but HHS is taking a hard line on rules and mandates. Governors aren’t giving up control; they never had control in the first place.