Posted on 06/23/2011 9:15:33 AM PDT by distressed
The battle to repeal President Barack Obama's national health care reform law found an ally this week in state Assemblywoman Alison McHose, R-Sussex.
Calling the law unconstitutional, McHose introduced a bill, A4155, on Monday that would make it a criminal offense in the state to enforce the requirements mandated in the 2010 U.S. healthcare reform law, which includes requiring all Americans to buy some form of health insurance by 2014.
But experts, fellow legislators and political opponents said it's unlikely the bill is going anywhere.
According to Lou Crescitelli, a spokesperson for McHose's office, the assemblywoman drafted the bill to lend credence to a number of lawsuits that are challenging the federal health care law in the courts.
On Wednesday a federal appeals court in Atlanta began hearings on a lawsuit filed by 26 states challenging the law's requirement that all Americans purchase health care insurance by 2014.
In New Jersey, the federal appeals court in Newark heard arguments Wednesday in a lawsuit filed by a group of physicians challenging the constitutionality of the health care law and the economic impact it will have on their practices.
The New Jersey lawsuit was filed last year by New Jersey Physicians Inc., described as an advocate for doctors and patients, and by a patient identified only as John Doe. It challenges the law's requirement that citizens purchase insurance.
According to reports from the Associated Press on Wednesday, a loophole was recently discovered in the federal health care law that would extend Medicaid benefits meant for the poor to middle-class households, increasing the ranks of the free health care program by as many as 3 million people.
The cost of the expansion of the Medicaid system under the federal health care law, as well as the impact the law will have by requiring businesses to provide health care to employees, is one of the reasons the McHose bill was drafted, Crescitelli said.
"This will hit the taxpayers in New Jersey very hard. Medicaid is already a very significant part of the state budget. If we have to increase that amount, where do you think it will come from?" Crescitelli said. "It is very important for state lawmakers to question what Washington, D.C., is doing in order to protect the interests of our taxpayers."
The federal law, signed by Obama in March 2010, increases the availability of insurance, expands Medicaid, creates insurance exchanges and prohibits insurers from denying coverage to people because of their medical history. At the core of the national litigation is the requirement that Americans obtain insurance by 2014 or pay a tax penalty.
The states' challenges to the health care law are expected to reach the U.S. Supreme Court.
McHose's Assembly bill seeks to render the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act "null and void and of no force and effect in the State of New Jersey."
It provides criminal penalties for any federal agent or employee who attempts to enforce the law: a fine of $1,000 to $5000 and a prison term of up to five years, at a judge's discretion. For a state employee the penalties would be a fine of $500 to $1,000 and a prison term of up to two years.
Although the courts may be entertaining constitutional challenges to the federal health care law, the draft of McHose's Assembly bill would most likely never make it to that level of authority, said Frank Askin, a professor of constitutional law at Rutgers Law School in Newark.
"The state cannot nullify a federal law. New Jersey has a better chance of seceding from the Union than enforcing (McHose's) bill," Askin said. "(McHose's) bill is clearly unconstitutional, and any state employee who tried to enforce it could be sued. We have the Constitution of the United States of America that binds us all together."
Leslie Huhn, a Democratic candidate for the Assembly who will challenge McHose and Assemblyman Gary Chiusano, R-Sussex, in November, said the health care bill McHose drafted is an example of the disconnect the legislators have with the needs of Sussex County.
"Why is she wasting time on a bill that will never be posted? Sussex County lost $34 million in school aid, we have transportation needs and she is worried about a national issue?" Hugh said. "(McHose, Chiusano and state Sen. Steve Oroho) are not representing the needs of this district. They think they can do whatever they want and get re-elected."
The Sussex County Tea Party Patriot group is also challenging the Assembly seats of McHose and Chiusano. RoseAnn Salanitri, a founding member of the local Tea Party movement, said she is not in favor of Obama's health care reform law, but recognized any repeal effort would have to be done on a national level.
"The law was passed nationally, and no state law can conflict with that. It seems Mrs. McHose is making a grandstand gesture that has very little benefit for the residents of Sussex County," Salanitri said. "I'll give her credit, it's a good try. But I would like to see some real action be taken for Sussex County. We need to find other ways to get things done other than just playing the same games in Trenton."
I live in Sussex Cty. I vote. I read the paper. And I’ve never heard of the Sussex Cty Tea Party Group or any of their candidates.
I do agree though that this is a grandstanding waste of time.
It is grandstanding to recognize a clearly unconstitutional law as exceeding the limits of federal authority? Of course, she has her work cut out for her since most of the laws passed have no constitutional basis and are rubber stamped by the courts. It is so nice to live in a country ruled over by a bunch of criminals in black robes.
It’s grandstanding to push a law with no chance, based on the false doctrine of nullification. But hey, it gets her some publicity.
McHose.... fitting name for a politician ( or a lawyer )..
When we are ruled by criminals, I guess tilting at windmills is all we have left.
Gee, I thought those powers not specifically granted to the feds are reserved to the states. I guess I can’t read that well.
Nullifcation is nonsense. But chase that rabbit if you like.
Evidently. You skipped right over the Supremacy Clause.
Also, don't be obnoxious. McHose is not the first grandstander to come up with this idea, and he won't be the last. But like all his colleagues, his effort will end in failure.
Let me see...Feds can enact a nullity under the Supremacy Clause. I did not know that. I thought they could only enact Constitutional laws under the Supremacy Clause. No wonder you need an attorney these days to protect you against the creative urges of the Judiciary and the Congress. Of course, the judiciary will rubber stamp anything lawmakers do and knock you down with the Supremacy Clause. I cling to my definition of the Supremacy Clause, and my guns and my Bible. But, logic rarely wins these days.
you skipped over mchose is a woman
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