Should Missouri enforce Obama's health care law? : News : ConnectMidMissouri.com

Should Missouri enforce Obama's health care law?

Posted: 03.22.2011 at 12:33 PM

Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster has refused to join other states in suing the federal government about the new health care law.

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Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster warns republicans that the state could face penalties for not enforcing the law.

JEFFERSON CITY, MO -- A year after President Barack Obama signed his heath care overhaul, Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster says the law's legal fate is still uncertain.

Koster made the statement in response to three Republican officials who asked him whether he thought the law could be enforced in Missouri.

The GOP officials who requested the legal analysis criticized Koster's response for not being sufficiently specific.

In early January, the Missouri House debated and then passed a resolution calling on Koster to get involved in efforts to block the new federal health care law.

The resolution called on Koster to defend the anti-federal health care ballot measure approved by Missouri voters in August, and to join some two dozen other states now suing the federal government over mandates in the health care law.

Representative Ward Franz of West Plains said at the time, "By the people of Missouri voting for Proposition "C" with a vote of over 71 percent, and by their turnout at the polls in November's election, they've made it clear that they're both tired and scared of direction this great country of ours is going."

Two federal judges upheld the health care overhaul. A third struck down the insurance requirement, and a fourth ruled the entire law is unconstitutional. Appeals courts will consider those rulings.

Koster says Missouri risks possible sanctions by not complying with the law while waiting for a definitive ruling.

Koster says lawmakers and the governor will have to weigh the risks of possible sanctions against costs for complying with the law.

Missouri Lieutenant Governor Peter Kinder, a republican, is suing the health care law as a private citizen, not as a constitutional officer.

Yesterday, Missouri 9th District Congressman Blaine Luetkemeyer told KRCG that he and other GOP lawmakers in Washington will continue to try to defund the President’s health care plan.

"It’s just a bad bill. It’s a bad concept,” Luetkemeyer said. “This kind of health care, the way they are approaching it, is not the way to go.”

Luetkemeyer says the American people are against the President’s health care plan by a ratio of about 2 to 1.

Even so, polls show that about 1 in 8 Americans believe they have been personally helped already, well before the main push to cover the uninsured scheduled for 2014.

Still, issues of affordability and complexity guarantee ongoing problems, even if the Supreme Court upholds the landmark legislation that made health insurance both a right and a responsibility.

(The Associate Press contributed to this story)

Related Links

		MO House debates health care law
		Activists celebrate first anniversary of Obama Health Care
		Sen. McCaskill holds town hall meeting
		Missouri voters approve anti-health care Prop C

Should MO Attorney General Chris Koster get involved in the opposition of the federal health care law?

	Yes, he should follow what the majority of Missouri voters want.
	No, he should stay neutral and wait for federal judges to rule.

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