WASHINGTON (AP) -- Republican governors who've balked at creating new private insurance markets under President Barack Obama's health care law may end up getting stuck.

Barring a Mitt Romney win in November, states that haven't set up the required markets could find Washington calling the shots on some insurance issues that states traditionally manage, such as handling consumer complaints.

It could turn into a political debacle for those who dug in to fight what they decry as "Obamacare."

The law envisioned states running the new medical insurance markets, called exchanges. But politics and ideology have intervened.

And a fallback "federal exchange" now looks as if it will become the standard option in about half the states -- at least initially.