Virginia House Speaker Bill Howell, ALEC National Chairman
On Wednesday a group of the nation’s state legislators stated their opposition to “Obamacare” and said that it would be a violation of the authority of the states. A letter to Congress from the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), an organization of conservative state legislators, served to underscore members’ opposition to current health reform efforts in Washington.
ALEC, which has more than 1,800 state legislative members, sent a similar letter to congressional leaders in June. Then in mid-July, ALEC held its annual meeting in Atlanta, where state legislators from across the nation began signing their names to the letter opposing some of the government-run aspects of health care reform. Since then, 172 legislators from 41 states have chosen to make an individual statement and have signed the letter opposing the measures moving through Congress.
The July 29 letter was addressed to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and also sent to the bipartisan leadership of the Senate and the House and bipartisan leadership of the Senate and House committees considering health care bills. The letter states ALEC’s opposition:
We are writing to reiterate our concern with recent federal health reform efforts – particularly, the Medicare-modeled “public plan” and a national health insurance exchange – which we believe would trample states’ rights and lead Americans down the road to single-payer health care.
According to the letter, ALEC lawmakers approved a resolution in May that labels the public health insurance plan in the legislation “anti-competitive” and says the legislation constitutes a federal takeover of what has been a state function of regulating health insurance. ALEC says the public plan would compete with private plans, yet have the luxury of being subsidized by the federal treasury.
While the Obama Administration and congressional sponsors argue that the purpose of the public plan is to “level the playing field” and make the health insurance market more competitive, it will have the opposite effect. By dictating reimbursement rates that are lower than free-market rates, as Medicare does now, a public plan will force doctors and hospitals to charge private plans more in order to make up for the low reimbursements from the public plan. The effect will be that the public plan will undercut prices of private insurers and eventually drive them out of business.
ALEC's letter puts it this way:
Political pressure to keep public plan premiums low and benefits high will result in the “crowding out” of private sector insurance alternatives. The Lewin Group [a health care policy research firm] estimates that nearly 119 million Americans will drop private coverage and enroll in the government plan.
According to ALEC, the national health care exchange, or health insurance "co-operative," a feature of the leading proposals before Congress, will destroy the role of the states in regulating health insurance. Decision-making will shift to Washington. The letter also confronts the matter of costs from state to state:
If the national health insurance exchange leads to creating a regional or national pool, low-cost states would subsidize high-cost states. While this may be a good deal for a high-cost state, low-cost states would end up paying more for health
insurance premiums.
ALEC, which is committed to the Jeffersonian principles of limited government, free markets, federalism, and individual liberty, continues to oppose this legislation on the grounds that it is an overreach of federal power and intrudes on the powers of state governments. One would hope that those in Congress and the White House would not ignore the appeals of an organization that serves as a voice for 1,800 state legislators.
Perhaps these legislators understand a bit more about the proper distribution of federal and state powers than those running the show in Washington. I’m certainly convinced that they do.
For more info:
State Sen. Judson Hill addresses health care forum
The Impact of The American Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009 on ME, PA, VA, NE, NM, and MT - a report from the Heritage Foundation and the Lewin Group
No, Really, It’s Not Government-Run! by Michael D. Tanner of the Cato Institute looks at health care insurance "co-operatives"
Comments
Of course, 850 state legislators across the country have signed a letter supporting major elements of the health reform bills being debated, including a public option. And the Progressive States Network and the National Conference of State Legislatures -- representing all 50 states -- has endorsed a public option as organizations.
See: progressivestates.org/node/23319
"The endorsement of the public option signals a growing consensus from state legislators in support of one of President Obama's key reform priorities at a time of escalating debate on Capitol Hill. Last month, a bipartisan group of now over 850 state legislators from 48 states organized by the Progressive States Network delivered a letter to President Obama and Congress throwing their weight behind the public option. In the month since, over 100 legislators from all 50 states have added their signatures to the letter."
Opponent legislators are actually a tiny minority, since most state leaders want refor
Nathan,
Yes, the Left will support the kind of "reform" that Washington is dishing up. I wouldn't expect them not to. But the 950 liberal legislators who are supporting the government takeover of health care represent the Left side of public opinion. If you studied the polls recently or in the past, you'll notice that perhaps 15-25% of the public is liberal while about 40-50% is conservative. There are a lot more conservative legislators than left-wing ones. Nationwide, 7,382 state legislators hold public office. While ALEC has 1,800 legislative members who oppose the government-run solution, your Left-wing guys are about half that number. Bottom line, conservatives speak for a lot more folks than the far Left does. Even in Congress, only 80 of the 256 House members have said they will hold the line to enact a single-payer system. The Blue Dog Democrats want none of this and want a more conservative solution. The far Left really is in the minority on this issue.
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