With Congress still wrestling over national health care reform, the Florida Senate advanced a proposed constitutional amendment aimed at stopping the federal measure from taking full effect in Florida.
At issue is the mandate proposed in Congress that everyone carry health insurance. Such a mandate would expand the pool of insured people to include many more healthy people -- thereby making it more cost-effective for insurers to cover people with pre-existing health conditions, and at reasonable rates.
That mandate would violate individuals' and states' rights, as enshrined in the 10th amendment of the U.S. Constitution, argued Carey Baker, sponsor of the state Senate resolution, which need a three-fifths' vote in the Legislature to reach the ballot.
"If you believe in medical freedom; if you believe in individual rights, if you believe that you alone should have the right to decide what health care plan is best for you and your family -- if you believe in these fundamental values that our founding fathers believed in ... you need to support this legislation," said Baker, R-Eustis.
Baker's efforts parallel those of state Attorney General Bill McCollum who is urging other attorneys general to join him in a legal battle against the federal insurance mandate, if it passes.
During today's debate, Democratic Sen. Dan Gelber of Miami Beach argued that the "supremacy clause" in the federal Constitution would pre-empt such a law. The supremacy clause names federal law as the reigning authority that invalidates contradicting state law.
With its potential impact still in dispute, the resolution passed the Senate Judiciary committee. It has two more committee stops.
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