By Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar
Associated Press

WASHINGTON) Republican state legislators and governors suing to overturn parts of President Barack Obama's health law are still working on how to deliver coverage to more than 30 million people now uninsured, as the law calls for.

The result? Perhaps the first practical opportunity for the two political parties to work together on an issue that divides them in Washington.

"I can be philosophically opposed and recognize that we can't be asleep at the switch," said Alabama state Rep. Greg Wren, a Republican playing a national role.

"I for one have no interest in ceding any regulatory or statutory authority to the federal government in this area and allowing our state to default while we pursue the litigation side," said Wren, co-chairman of a National Conference of State Legislatures task force on the health care remake.

The debate in the nation's capital seems headed for a stalemate this year because Senate Democrats have the votes to thwart House Republicans' efforts to repeal the law. Denying the Obama administration money to carry out the law isn't a sure strategy either; most of the money was woven tightly into the legislation Congress passed last year.

"We will see a lot of small battles in Congress, but the real center of gravity will shift to the states," said Mike Leavitt, former Republican governor of Utah and health secretary under President George W. Bush. "Bipartisanship is more vibrant in the states than it is in Washington. That doesn't mean it's plentiful, but at least it's alive."

States have to be ready to take on major responsibilities when the coverage expansion gets going in 2014. If not, the federal government will come in and run things.

States must set up and operate health insurance markets where an estimated 24 million people eventually will buy private coverage, most with the aid of federal subsidies. Also, states must open their Medicaid programs to a broader segment of low-income people.

The Medicaid expansion worries state officials. They're already struggling with the costs of the program, draining money from other services from education to law enforcement. Special added Medicaid payments that Washington funneled to the states in the economic downturn will end this year, worsening the crunch.

About 16 million newly eligible people eventually would get Medicaid under the law, and potentially several million more who are eligible today but not signed up could enroll as well.