Posted on 04/23/2010 11:58:03 AM PDT by tutstar
By Carol Gentry and Jim Saunders 4/23/2010 © Health News Florida Only hours after the Florida House and Senate voted to opt out of the new federal health law, the top U.S. health official said Thursday night that will not be permitted.
Without mentioning any particular state or going into detail, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said that state and local officials can vent all they want about a so-called federal takeover of health care. But they cannot deny their citizens access to its benefits or requirements, she told the Association of Health Care Journalists. Our eAlert subscribers read it first! They may want to opt out, but they dont get to opt out all of their citizens who want and need health care, Sebelius said.
Florida has an estimated 4 million uninsured, most of whom will be covered when the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) takes full effect in 2014.
At least 30 states have passed state constitutional amendment legislation similar to that approved by the Florida Legislature, according to theNational Conference of State Legislatures.
Sebelius said the backlash against the ACA has been ginned up by misinformation, much of it deliberate. Thus HHS will be setting up an Internet site to answer frequent questions and a toll-free helpline, similar to that operated for Medicare beneficiaries. HHS staff members present at the conference said they hope to have the Internet site up by July 1 and the help desk soon after.
The opt-out measure passed in the House and Senate on Thursday, a proposed amendment to the Florida Constitution, will go before voters in the November election. The proposal says, in part, that Floridians may not be forced by law to "participate in any health-care system.''
Dividing along almost strict party lines, the House passed the proposal 74-42, and the Senate followed in a 26-11 vote. Republican supporters say the issue is a matter of freedom and preventing encroachment by the federal government.
"The fact that we have to have this debate in the United States of America is troubling and bizarre,'' said Rep. Mike Horner, R-Kissimmee.
Democrats said the proposal's supporters have spent more time trying to prevent expansion of coverage than they have on solving the state's health-care problems.
"That is the folly of this moment, and this constitutional amendment is misguided in the extreme,'' said Sen. Dan Gelber, D-Miami Beach.
The measure is primarily aimed at part of the health-reform law that will eventually require people to buy health insurance or face financial penalties --- a concept known as the "individual mandate.'' Republicans in Tallahassee and other state capitals have launched numerous efforts to allow people to opt out of the requirement since the Democrat-controlled Congress passed it last month.
At the same time, Republican Attorney General Bill McCollum has launched a separate legal battle challenging the federal law. That lawsuit is pending.
Democrats have repeatedly argued that the legislative attempts to allow Floridians to opt out of the federal law would violate the so-called "supremacy clause'' of the U.S. Constitution. That clause generally gives precedence to federal law over state law when conflicts occur.
"We should not step on the United States Constitution, and that's what you are doing now,'' Davie Democrat Martin Kiar said during the House debate today.
But supporters dispute that the supremacy clause bars the state from allowing people to avoid the individual mandate. "The supremacy clause does not say the feds control the states,'' Melbourne Republican Ritch Workman said.
Supporters also say that even if the proposal ultimately is found to violate the supremacy clause, it would remain in place to protect Floridians from future state health-care requirements. As an example, it would prevent Florida from approving coverage requirements similar to those in Massachusetts.
More broadly, however, Palm Harbor Republican Peter Nehr said it is the Legislature's duty to "step up and reassert the rights of Floridians.''
McCain-Lieberman Bill Would Deny Civilian Trials for "Enemy Belligerents"
This bill is for detaining AMERICANS! at the President's direction.
If the 2010 elections do not stop the feds then the federal problem needs to be resolved by the States — by nullification and interposition first and if that and 2012 does not stop the federal incroachment, then the last resort is secession.
Remember that nearly all US military installations and training faciilities are in red states or red portions of blue states.
post #49
Great banner! November can’t come soon enough1
Thanks! It comes as a bumper sticker, too: http://www.zazzle.com/sedition_bumper_sticker-128937947533978438
cool!thanks
They are hypocritical on most issues though. Abortion for example, they aren’t really pro choice. If they really wanted women to have a free choice they wouldn’t fight to keep women from having an ultrasound before they abort.
This is the most controlling bunch there has ever been. It’s all about POWER!
They are hypocritical on most issues though. Abortion for example, they aren’t really pro choice. If they really wanted women to have a free choice they wouldn’t fight to keep women from having an ultrasound before they abort.
This is the most controlling bunch there has ever been. It’s all about POWER!
We The People of Florida will have our say in November. The Federal Government will not make mandates to Floridians that are against our Constitutional freedoms!
However, I have no doubt that you'll continue believing it, and would not likely vote for a Sarah Palin/ Michelle Bachmann ticket, no matter what the strength of that ticket for America and conservatism might be.
Generalize and infer away, newgeezer. I'm not likely to convince you otherwise when your mind is so clearly made up.
btw, this discussion has nothing to do with the evil Kathleen Sebelius and the unconstitutional power she now has, so unless your next post is on topic, I'll leave it alone.
Oh didn’t you hear? Charlie might drop out of the race and move to Key West and run for Mayor! Sure know he will be a happy camper down in Key West!
Do you think the fact that the Obamacare law forces states to pay more for Medicaid may cause revolt just because they cannot afford to follow Obamacare?
Oh you said it SO WELL! “Feckless twit” personified!
FL must stand tall! About time we put the Federal Government in it’s place and back in line with the US Constitution.
Of course they do read.. Karl Marx, Stalin & Lenin, Mao, Castro, etc...
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