Arizonans for healthcare freedom

the arizona strategy

 
 
June 22, 2009

East Valley Tribune

Howard Fischer, Capitol Media Services

Arizonans will get a second chance to decide if they want residents here to be able to opt out of any national health insurance plan approved by Congress.

Without debate, the state Senate on Monday voted 18-11 to put a proposal on the 2010 ballot which would constitutionally override any law, rule or regulation that requires individuals or employers to participate in any particular health care system.

The House already has approved the measure.

HCR 2014, if approved by voters next year, also would prohibit any fine or penalty on anyone or any company for deciding to purchase health care directly. Doctors and health care providers would remain free to accept those funds and provide those services.

Finally, it would overrule anything that prohibits the sale of private health insurance in Arizona.
The push comes as Congress is debating the concept of some sort of national health insurance plan, a plan that foes have equated to the national plans of Canada and Britain.

At the moment, President Obama is not proposing a single provider or insurer. Instead, the discussion is revolving around creation of a company run by the government to compete with private carriers.

But the plan, at least for the time being, is expected to include some sort of mandatory purchase. That could involve companies being forced to provide insurance for their workers as well as a requirement that every individual obtain coverage or face financial penalties.

Opponents contend that will limit health care choices.

The measure is similar to an initiative pushed onto the ballot last year by Eric Novack, a Phoenix orthopedic surgeon. He argued that state constitutional protections are necessary to the rights of individuals to decide their own health care.

But the initiative was narrowly defeated, at least in part amid concerns the change would undermine the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System, the state’s Medicaid program.

Rep. Nancy Barto, R-Phoenix, agreed to push the proposal through the Legislature to save Novack and his allies the cost of gathering sufficient signatures to put the measure back on the ballot.

Clint Bolick, an attorney with the Goldwater Institute, acknowledged he does not know what any federal health care plan will include. And he said any Arizona constitutional provision that bumps into whatever is in the federal plan is likely to be challenged in court.

But Bolick said he believes the measure, if approved by voters next year, is defensible. The key, he said, will be the U.S. Supreme Court recognizing that what Arizona is trying to do is consistent with other rights already recognized in the federal constitution.

“One is that individual self-determination in the medical context is one of the bases for the abortion decision,” Bolick said, referring to the 1973 decision which declared that women have a constitutional right to terminate a pregnancy.

Bolick, who has agreed to defend any new Arizona constitutional provision against a legal challenge, said he would argue that there is a “truly fundamental” right of individuals to decide how to procure and purchase health care.

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