Missouri's Unique Challenge To Obamacare

From Human Events:

Missouri’s Unique Challenge to Obamacare


by John Gizzi



07/22/2010





Although attorneys general from numerous states have sued on constitutional grounds to overturn the Democratic healthcare bill passed by Congress in March, the suit recently filed in Missouri against the same measure differs dramatically.



Rather than challenging the law solely on the behest of the state, the Missouri suit represents actual people who are going to suffer as a result of the healthcare bill.

There are human faces on this suit—the faces of people who are going to be hurt badly if Obamacare stays on the books.



“As our state’s statutorily-empowered advocate for senior citizens, I began this suit in my official capacity,” Missouri’s Republican Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder told HUMAN EVENTS days after he filed the suit at the federal courthouse in Cape Girardeau, Mo.



In explaining why his suit differs from those of the attorneys general from sister states, Kinder pointed out that “theirs is a ‘facial challenge’—that is, God bless them, challenging Obamacare on the face of the law, challenging its very legality.”



“But ours is a unique case of individuals as parties bringing a suit. It is known as ‘as applied’ and that means that if this law is applied, these individuals are going to be suffer. ”



One of those individuals who joined in the suit also joined Kinder outside the courthouse when he filed it. Her name is Julie Keathley, a widow from Dexter, Mo., with an adopted son who is autistic.



Should Obamacare take effect, Keathley says its regulations will end the special-needs program her son Mason is on and force her to go on Medicaid—the much-criticized program initially designed to favor indigents that is a major cause for much of the deficits that states are now wallowing in.



Another plaintiff in the Missouri suit is 70-something Dale Morris, who is battling congestive heart failure and survived colon cancer and a quadruple bypass. Washington University in St. Louis, Kinder explained, “has among the finest doctors and facilities who can handle her complex problems.” But because of Obamacare, he said, Morris would be unable to get the operation since Medicare Advantage (the program under which she is covered) is being eliminated.



The third plaintiff he cited is 21-year-old Samantha Hill of Western Missouri, a recent college graduate who is trying to get medical catastrophic insurance. Kinder pointed out that Hill “doesn’t smoke, doesn’t drink, doesn’t use drugs, and eats right. Yet, thanks to the ‘one size fits all’ mandate in Obamacare, she will have to follow a cessation program in order to qualify for the catastrophic coverage—a program she can’t afford and has no need for.”



Kinder’s suit comes at a time that there are mounting worries among officials that implementation of the healthcare reform measure will bust Missouri’s budget.



Kinder said that the county executive of a major county in the state “said that the county government, which self-insures its employees, is worried that the federal legislation will increase the costs of health insurance by as much as a quarter-million dollars and this will mandate a tax increase.”



He fully anticipates that others will join in the suit nationwide and that other plaintiffs will find other dangers in Obamacare. In Kinder’s words, “as you peel back layers of this onion, you find so many unintended consequences and all of them are bad.”













(The Missouri lawsuit is being entirely funded by private donations. To support it, send your donation to healthcareinaction.com now)









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John Gizzi is Political Editor of HUMAN EVENTS.

And a choice comment:
 
Yes there is a 3.8% tax on home sales starting in 2012. Obama and the dems believe that if you sell a house that you are considered rich for a day and should pay the tax. The gold coin tax is also true. It requires gold sellers to file a 1099 on the sell of precious metals that are over $600. In the end the buyer payes the tax. Plus the 1099 is the IRS way of tracking that asset purchase. Which means if the asset grows in value it can be counted as income just like interest earned off a savings account once it exceeds a certain amount. Also when you die it can be figured in to see if you fall in to the death tax aka estate tax. now incase you have not heard the dems want to pass a currency trading tax. The dems claim that only the big bank and currency traders will be effected. Yea and I believe that. The truth is that it will have a huge impact on wall street and will push currency trading out of the United State to places like London and Frnakfurt. Which means more lost jobs, less tax revenue, and even less investment capital. End results is the GDP starts to shrink. Obamacare and the Finance reform bill will also have the same long term effect. Now besides the unconstitutionality of these laws the negative impact to the country is massive. In 2012 Americans are going to wake up to a very different country. The questions is will we still be one when all this goes into effect.




Jul 22, 2010 @ 09:16 AM

Patrick, GA