As MoJo’s own Suzy Khimm writes today, the more than a dozen states set to fight President Obama’s health care bill in court may not succeed, but there’s still plenty they can do to undermine how reform is implemented. Like how states establish insurance exchanges, as the new law requires, which require plenty of supervision and appointees at the state level. Now another state, Oregon, has now joined the states’ legal health care battle—but it’s on the side fighting for the bill.
Oregon’s attorney general, John Kroger, announced yesterday that he’s readying a massive defense alongside the state’s governor to defend the constitutionality of Obama’s health bill. (Both men are Democrats.) “The health care reform cases present some of the most important constitutional issues facing this generation,” Kroger said in a statement.
Oregon’s defense of health care reform faces stiff opposition from a spate of attorneys general nationwide. The AGs already vowing to fight Obamacare, as opponents call it, hail from Florida, Alabama, Michigan, South Carolina, Nebraska, Pennsylvania, Colorado, Texas, Utah, Louisiana, Indiana, Idaho, South Dakota, and Washington. (All of these states are party to the same suit, filed by Florida AG Bill McCollum.) The Virginia AG has also announced that he’ll sue the Obama administration over the health bill as well. One particular piece of the health bill that has these state AGs up in arms is a mandate that all Americans buy medical insurance or pay a fine; the states say this demand violates the constitution’s commerce clause, which gives the feds the power to regulate interstate commerce. These states counter by saying insurance contracts aren’t commerce, and thus fall under state’s regulatory power. Their opposition also stems from states’ broader fiscal woes, with budgets already deep in the red and likely to suffer more when required to implement Obama’s health care plan.
With Oregon now joining the fray, the fight over Obama’s health reform is shaping up to be a bruiser. And don’t be surprised to see more states chime in the coming days and weeks.
