States Fighting Federal Government Takeover of Health Care

There is so much wrong, on so many levels, with the passage of the "Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act" that it is tough to know where to even begin. My last post on this blog was focused on sharing a copy of my petition to Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller that he fight the bill, which was signed yesterday (23 March 2010) by the President.

This post follows up with some good news that I turned up in my continued research:
1. Indiana is going to fight the health care law;
2. Indiana is among many states fighting the health care law;
3. The law is an overt attempt by the federal government, especially Democrats, to "control the people."



The Law is Bad for Indiana... and We'll Fight It
It is unconstitutional, limits options, and raises costs in Indiana

According to this news release on IN.gov, AG Zoeller is "reviewing options for legal challenge to health care bill". The news release included a link to the official report that AG Zoeller submitted to Senator Luger (US Senate, R-IN) on 05 February 2010 analyzing Senate version of the health care bill. Here is a link to the full report on IN.gov (PDF, 55 pages). And here is a summary of the report on IN.gov (1 page, web).

So why exactly is this law bad for Indiana? Check out these highlights from AG Zoeller's report (or read the full report, if you wish).

1. Constitutionality at issue.
   
   • Never before has the federal government required Americans to purchase any good or service, nor has it regulated inactivity.
   
   
   • The bill's "Nebraska Compromise" amendment ... appears to violate Article I of the U.S. Constitution.
   
   
2. Insurance exchanges problematic.


3. Indiana Medicaid costs.


• Increases Indiana's Medicaid costs by $2.4 billion over 10 years.


• Diverts pharmaceutical rebate savings from the states to the federal government, potentially resulting in a loss to Indiana of $750 million by 2019.


4. State insurance plans preempted.


• [May] spell the end of the popular Healthy Indiana Plan (HIP) where low-income Hoosiers now are able to purchase state-run health coverage — funded partially through cigarette tax — that emphasizes preventive care.


5. Economic impact.


Substantial negative impact on two Indiana industries that employed a combined 35,500 Hoosiers in 2007.

The report concludes that the Senate version of the health care bill is unlikely to achieve one of its major goals, reducing the cost of health care. ... The Senate bill is likely to cause a steep increase in insurance premiums.

Indiana is Not Alone in the Fight
14 Sovereign States have already filed suit

In the build-up the bill's final passage and signing, I was most aware of the Commonwealth of Virginia's opposition to it. Little did I know, the ball was already rolling throughout the Union.

Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli (website | Twitter) was outspoken in his opposition and made it clear before the House even passed the bill that Virginia would file suit if it became law. When the House did pass the bill, AG Cuccinelli tweeted: "Well, they did it. Once the president signs it into law, we'll walk across the street and file suit b/c the ind mandate is unconstitutional".

Not only has the Attorney General stood up for the sovereignty of the Commonwealth and the liberty of its People, but the Virginia General Assembly passed a bill, expected to be signed into law by Governor Bob McDonnell today (24 March 2010), that explicitly makes it illegal for the federal government to force Virginia residents to purchase health care. Under the 10th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, which states "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people", since the Congress was not granted authority to force citizens to purchase a product or service, State laws supercede the federal government's "law".

As I said, I have been most aware of the fight in Virginia, but that last link includes a tidbit that Idaho has actually enacted such a law already.

In separate action, the attorneys general from thirteen (13) other states have jointly filed suit in the US District Court in Florida.

Attorney General	State of
Bill McCollum	Florida
Henry McMaster	South Carolina
Jon Bruning	Nebraska
Greg Abbott	Texas
Mark L. Shurtleff	Utah
James D. "Buddy" Caldwell	Louisiana
Troy King	Alabama
Michael A. Cox	Michigan
John W. Suthers	Colorado
Thomas W. Corbett, Jr.	Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
Robert M. McKenna	Washington
Lawrence G. Wasden	Idaho
Marty J. Jackley	South Dakota

One interesting note is that, while in most states the Attorney General and the Governor are allies in this battle, Washington Governor Chris Gregoire supports the health care law that WA AG Rob McKenna has filed suit to block. Since both are elected offices, neither has authority over the other's actions.

Thankfully, Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels has been just as adamantly opposed to the federal government's takeover of the health care system. I'm encouraged to see that my home state is but one among many with heads of sound logic and balls of steel to stand up to the federal government's outright attempt to "control the people".


The Real Reason for the Health Care Bill
To control the people

Oh, did you miss that? Representative John D. Dingell (D-MI) admitted "it takes a long time to do the necessary administrative steps ... to control the people." He went on to say that "our Republicans have spent a long time not participating [in trying to control the people], not helping [the effort to control the people], prepping [to fight Democratic power-grabs], and delaying [Democratic power grabs],... they have contributed nothing to [the attempt to control the people] and made no offer whatsoever as to what it is they want or what they stand for."

There you have it, folks, straight from the horse's mouth. "Democrats been working a long time to advance the federal government's power to control the people, and Republicans have done nothing but try to stop them." And he is sorely mistaken if he believes Republicans have not made it known what they stand against. The very fact they've put up such a fight against these kinds of power-grabs speak louder than any official press-release or party policy.

Thank God we have States like Indiana and the others who have already filed suit to stop the injustice and folly that is the "Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act".