Blocking ‘Obamacare’

Rep. Glenn Gruenhagen (R-Glencoe) believes the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act that President Obama signed into law nearly one year ago is not only unconstitutional, but will prove to be an economic and health care disaster for Minnesota and the country.

He sponsors HF468, which would prohibit the expenditure of any state funds to comply with implementation of the new federal health care law until the U.S. Supreme Court rules on the constitutionality of the act, often referred to as “Obamacare.”

The bill, which the Health and Human Services Reform Committee approved on a 12-8 party-line vote March 8 and referred to the House Health and Human Services Finance Committee, comes on the heels of a ruling last month by a U.S. District Court judge in Florida that the act is unconstitutional. In his ruling, Judge Roger Vinson issued a stay on implementation of the health care reform. As a response, the Obama administration issued an appeal to Vinson’s ruling and asked the judge to tell the states they must follow the legislation pending the appeal, which is expected to be taken up by the U.S. Supreme Court.

“(Obamacare) is a formula for destroying the private insurance market and ultimately moving everyone to a government-run system,” Gruenhagen said.

His opinion was not shared by the eight DFL committee members who voted against the bill after unsuccessfully offering a series of amendments that attempted to modify its language to allow implementation of portions of the act that eliminate lifetime benefit caps for applicants diagnosed with chronic or terminal illnesses and prohibit denial of health insurance coverage for children with preexisting chronic or terminal illnesses

Rep. Erin Murphy (DFL-St. Paul) defended the constitutionality of the federal act, comparing it to Medicare and saying that both can be considered tax policy.

“It seems to me that there is at least a plausible argument that (the Affordable Care Act) is constitutional, just as Medicare is constitutional,” she said.

A companion, SF277, sponsored by Sen. Sean Nienow (R-Cambridge), is scheduled to be heard March 14 by the Senate Health and Human Services Committee.