the arizona strategy
AZ Central
Andrew Johnson
Former GOP presidential candidate and media mogul Steve Forbes voiced his support Tuesday for a state ballot initiative that would give Arizonans the right to opt out of a government-run health-care system.
Calling health care a matter of personal freedom, Forbes said the initiative would promote lower costs by forcing insurers to compete for consumers' business.
"This gets to the essence of what this country is about," said Forbes, who spoke to reporters along with Rep. John Shadegg, R-Ariz., and Dr. Eric Novack, chairman of Arizonans for Health Care Freedom, in Phoenix.
House Bill 2014, which state legislators referred to the November 2010 ballot last summer, would block regulations forcing residents to participate in any health-care system.
It aims to circumvent requirements under federal health-care-reform plans being pushed by House and Senate Democrats that require residents to purchase health insurance
and penalizes those who eschew coverage.
Forbes, editor in chief of Forbes magazine, blasted the proposals.
Shadegg said such a mandate would prevent consumers from spending money on the services they want or need and would discourage insurers to lower costs.
"No one should be compelled to spend money on health-care services they don't want," Shadegg said, adding that no provision in the U.S. Constitution allows the federal government to mandate coverage.
He and Novack said Arizona's ballot initiative would not prevent residents from participating in a government-sponsored plan.
If approved by voters, the ballot measure could lead to a legal battle over whether the state can dodge a federal law should Congress pass current reform proposals.
Arizonans rejected a similar measure in 2008.
