ObamaCare "fixes neither problems with access to health care nor the affordability of it," observes citizen who apparently read some of the bill.
7/6/11, "Ohio health care law opponents file petitions," AP, via CBS News
"Opponents of the new federal health care overhaul are one step closer to having voters in the political bellwether of Ohio decide whether the state constitution should be amended to keep people from being required to buy health insurance or face penalties.
Supporters of the amendment on Wednesday filed more than 546,000 signatures with Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted. They need roughly 385,000 valid signatures for the amendment question to get on the Nov. 8 ballot.
The amendment's backers acknowledge that approval of the measure won't automatically exempt the state from the mandate in President Barack Obama's health care overhaul. But they say they hope to use the amendment to legally challenge the law.
The federal mandate is effective in 2014, when new competitive insurance markets open for business.
A coalition of tea party groups called the Ohio Liberty Council has been among the supporters pushing the amendment
- for more than a year.
Chris Littleton, a co-founder of the Ohio Liberty Council, said the health insurance requirement fixes neither problems with access to health care nor the affordability of it. He contended it's too overreaching and opens the door for other federal directives.
"I have to get up and purchase a commercial product because the government says I have to do that," Littleton told reporters at a news conference Wednesday. "That is not a solution to health care. It simply increases the power of government to take part in the process."
The Obama administration has argued that the coverage requirements rest on a solid constitutional foundation: the power of Congress to regulate interstate commerce.
But critics say that does not give the government the right to direct people to buy specific goods or services.
Last week, a federal appeals court in Cincinnati affirmed the merits of the health care law, agreeing that the government can require a minimum amount of insurance for Americans.
Timothy Jost, a professor at Washington and Lee University law school in Virginia, said unless reversed by the U.S. Supreme Court, the ruling by the three-judge 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals already settles the question of whether Ohio residents would be required under the federal law to buy health insurance.
"At this point it serves no legal purpose," Jost said. "It's just a political statement."
The head of the Columbus-based 1851 Center for Constitutional Law, who helped draft the amendment, said the matter is still up in the air, given that the nation's highest court has yet to take it up.
"It's not just politics," said Maurice Thompson, the center's executive director. "Cases go through courts all the time, issues go back and forth. You can't always decide what you're going to do based upon what one lower court does or another lower court does."
Thompson said he believes having the amendment in the state's Bill of Rights could give lawyers new grounds to make their case. The approach also would ban any future state-passed mandates from being imposed on Ohio residents, he said.
Amendment supporters recognize getting support from Ohio residents this fall could be tough.
Asked by reporters to put a price tag on what the effort could cost, campaign manager Jeff Longstreth would only say he expected to spend seven figures.
Health care amendments are being pushed in other states. Lawmakers in Alabama, Florida and Wyoming are putting similar measures before voters next year, the National Conference of State Legislatures says. Voters in Arizona, Oklahoma and Missouri approved similar constitutional changes.
More than 30 legal challenges have been filed over the health care overhaul, some focusing on different issues such as states' rights.
If the Ohio amendment meets state requirements, the state's voters could have a chance to weigh in on two divisive new laws this November.
Last week, opponents of Ohio's new collective bargaining restrictions delivered nearly 1.3 million signatures to Husted's office. Proponents of the referendum, which would invalidate the entire bill, need just over 231,000 valid signatures to get on the ballot.
Husted's office has until July 26 to verify both sets of signatures.
Volunteers helped get most of the signatures for the amendment, Littleton said. More than 100,000 signatures came from paid workers, and the Ohio Republican Party helped collect a few thousand.
The head of the liberal policy group ProgressOhio said the group would be going through the petitions for the health care amendment to see whether there were any irregularities in the signatures, which they then could challenge.
"The promoters of this amendment that will take away your health care rights are part of a political network determined to use any issue to score political points," said Brian Rothenberg, ProgressOhio's executive director. "In this case, the casualties will be Ohio citizens who will be denied the basics of having access to health care." "
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It's the exact opposite, Mr. Rothenberg! Both major political parties love ObamaCare! It's only the citizens who bothered reading any of it that are determined to stop it! ed.
via Instapundit
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