By FITSNews || Less than 24 hours after the U.S. House of Representatives narrowly approved President Barack Obama’s socialized medicine proposal, Attorneys General from ten states – including South Carolina – said that they will sue the federal government to block the implementation of the controversial legislation.
Ten of the attorneys general – including Henry McMaster of South Carolina – plan to file a collective lawsuit on behalf of their states. Joining South Carolina in this lawsuit will be Alabama, Florida, Nebraska, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Texas, Utah and Washington.
“To protect all Texans’ constitutional rights, preserve the constitutional framework intended by our nation’s founders, and defend our state from further infringement by the federal government, the State of Texas and other states will legally challenge the federal health care legislation,” Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott said in a statement.
Additionally, Virginia and Idaho have already passed laws blocking the implementation of “Obamacare” in their states, while Arizona has a proposed constitutional amendment on its November ballot.
South Carolina lawmakers – led by Sen. Mick Mulvaney and Rep. Tim Scott – have also moved to block the implementation of “Obamacare” legislatively.
At the center of these objections is the infringement of individual liberty associated with “Obamacare’s” insurance mandates, which would force American citizens to purchase health insurance or face fines as high as 2.5 percent of their income.
“Obamacare” also includes $10 billion in funding for 17,000 new IRS bureaucrats to collect those fines.
UPDATE: Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox issued a statement Monday saying that he will join the lawsuit in an effort “to defend the individual rights and freedoms of Michigan citizens against this radical overreach by the federal government.”
By Crooner March 22, 2010 at 3:14 pm
Can you say “grandstanding?”
By Step to the Right March 22, 2010 at 3:18 pm
Way to go Henry, Mulvaney and Scott! Now we need a way to get it out of the DC circuit! Come on you smart conservative constitutional lawyers – get to work and figure out a way to screw the Feds for once! We need a constitutional amendment effort as well to just keep the pressure on and keep the real issues in front of the few remaining voters who actually pay federal taxes & might, in fact, give a damn about the future of this country
By BC March 22, 2010 at 3:30 pm
Who will really be punished under such tactics? Most of these individuals are working hard to continue to score political points for their own careers.
By Tom March 22, 2010 at 4:38 pm
Post and Courier, Mar. 22, 2010
Lowcountry reaction: More than 20% uninsured
http://www.postandcourier.com/news/2010/mar/22/lowcountry-reaction/
Jessica Rentschler of Summerville may be the poster child for the Obama health care package in South Carolina. She went her whole life covered under her mother’s insurance plan. But that changed when she turned 18 and became an adult.
Shortly afterward, doctors discovered a large mass growing in the back of her brain, diagnosing it as a tumor that had to be removed.
Now 20, she’s without health insurance and medical bills are piling up.
“I’m $80,000 in debt,” Rentschler said Sunday night while standing outside a local hospital, just hours before Congress was set to vote on the national health care reform plan.
Rentschler is a full-time student studying to be a medical assistant. She’s not working, and every month relies on her mother to pay off what she can to keep the debt collectors away.
Friends say that Rentschler’s money woes are constant and that she never splurges on herself because of it.
“She talks about it all the time,” said Chelsey Stoll, who was with Rentschler outside the Medical University of South Carolina visiting a friend who they said is uninsured and had been injured in a fall from a roof.
The Trident United Way recently estimated that nearly 150,000 people in the Charleston-Berkeley-Dorchester region don’t have health insurance, which is more than 20 percent of the population.
*****
Mr. McMaster, please post a response to the young lady described above.
How would you as Governor help her and the other 149,999 uninsured lowcountry citizens buy health insurance that is both affordable and does not exempt “pre-existing conditions”?
*****
By InTheBiz March 22, 2010 at 4:53 pm
Again another black eye for South Carolina. Why are we the last industrialzed nation on the planet who has not done this? Europe did this years ago and civilization there is still doing fine, in fact better than the US.
By vicupstate March 22, 2010 at 5:05 pm
FITS has been saying for years that McMaster is as dumb as dirt. I guess he was right.
By Rick March 22, 2010 at 6:47 pm
So, I guess its alright that the food is removed from my grandchildrens plate to pay for Jessica’s medical needs? It’s ok to take from one to give to another? As much as I might sympathize with her plight…it’s not the governments business to take whats mine for someone else. If…If i choose to help her….thats my business not governments. Figure out personal responsibility and accountability.
By madcock March 22, 2010 at 7:41 pm
Rick, the only way allowing Jessica to stay on her parents’ policy and not allowing her tumor to be considered a pre-exisiting condition as this bill does would cost your grandchildren anything is if they own stock in a health insurance company and it might cut their dividend.
BTW, since you’re a grandfather, I assume you are at least 65 and refuse to participate in Medicare, because it is a government-run single-payer insurance plan.
Wouldn’t want to saddle your grandchildren with debt just for your health, would you?
By Alex March 22, 2010 at 8:17 pm
SC needs to win this suit, which means McMaster shouldn’t be representing us! Remember his craigslist debacle? And HM thinks fed law trumps states: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BvGtIzYwNLE what??
By countryboy March 22, 2010 at 9:06 pm
Madcock you seem to be saying OBAMACARE won’t cost our grandchildren anything. You can’t be that stupid, can you? Provide healthcare to 32,000,000 people and it won’t cost anything and in fact save taxpayers billions in the first 10 years and over a trillion in the second decade. BULLSHIT. This is the biggest con that has been forced on the American public in my lifetime. And note I said forced because the majority of Americans did NOT want Obamacare and it was forced on us by OBAMA and his liberal Democrats.
By fred March 22, 2010 at 9:21 pm
To all you socialists out there defending Obamacare:
How many tens of thousands do you give to charity annually?
Liberals are notoriously stingy and give parsimoniously, if at all.
In fact, documents on Obama’s charitable giving reveal that while he was making over $200,000 and his wife over $300,000/year, they gave around $3K to charity.
Even more revealing, VP Biden, whose residence is valued at over $6.5 million dollars, gives less than $1,000.oo to charity annually.
Point is, the more I’m taxed, the less I have to give to charities.
I make much less than Obama and Biden and gave nearly $30,000 to charity last year. (I’m telling you this not to brag or thump my chest but to make a point)
The charities I support have much, much lower overhead than the federal government, and monies go directly to those in need.
If socialists truly practiced generosity, they would frown upon increases in taxes as much as I do.
By jerry March 22, 2010 at 9:32 pm
Tom,
I work in the health field with a large private hospital. No one ever has been turned away. No one.
You know that.
Ms. Rentschler of Summerville received surgery without paying for it. Do you know of any business that literally gives its services away before collecting on them–other than healthcare?
Even state-owned utilities will cut off your water –essential to life– if you miss a payment.
Truth is, had Ms. Rentschler lived in Canada or any other country with socialized medicine, she would have probably had to wait 6 months for an MRI. By then, her case would have possibly been terminal and she would have been given palliative care only.
The red pill.
Ms. Rentschler will likely not pay her full bill and the hospital will write it off like it does for literally thousands of patients every year. (The hospital I work for gives away about $20-26 million yearly in unpaid care)
You know that.
Tom, Ms. Renschler is the poster child for why Obamacare needs to be repealed.
By FITS Gals March 22, 2010 at 10:03 pm
It’s the approach people. Reform is needed, but needed across the board. And this should not have been railroaded like it was. This is a divisive issue, that the majority of Americans are against. The least we can do is take a bipartisan approach if you are going to shove it through anyway. Meet halfway.
And last but not least, do not penalize or tax people for not participating. End of story. That’s stripping our liberties away even further.
RE: Europe, our ancestors and immigrated relatives who brought us here left that region for a reason!?!
xoxo,
FITS Gals
By Liberty For Me March 22, 2010 at 10:21 pm
I in no way believe McMaster is doing this for anything less than grandstanding.I hope I am wrong and that someone in this country still has balls.But I hold little hope…What have they done to get rid of socialism when they had all the power?? NOTHING!They are all on the same team.
By Susan March 22, 2010 at 10:22 pm
Jerry … You are sooooooooo right. I am so tired of the stories. We are all Loving Americans. We give until we can not give anymore. Yes we need reform, But NOT a take over. If you can not see that President O is only trying to divide the American people and to bankrupt America for his idea of Changing America then Sir your eyes and ears are not open. He wants all to be dependent on the government. He is looking to be not a President but a King. He considers Americans not the PEOPLE , but only his subjects…………..We need to Repeal………..then we need to Vote out the corruption in the congress & senate and as soon as possible throw the President out of office. I am an AMERICAN not an Obamerian. He is planing a new country and using our taxes to do so. Wake UP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
By Cooter Brown March 23, 2010 at 7:44 am
Th’ court iz da wrong way t’ go. Th’ supreme (pizza) court iz an ARM OV DA FED’RAIL GOV’MINT!
It cain onlie bee resisteds on da grounds of state sovereignty, nullificashun, or otha measures at da state lebel:
http://www.georgiafirst.org/governor/livingston1.shtml
Th’ courts muss bee rejected outrite by dis people if’n dey plan on bein’ free!
By BC March 23, 2010 at 8:41 pm
A system or condition of society in which the means of production are owned and controlled by the state. What is….? I would certainly like for anyone to figure out what this is.
By Marie January 27, 2011 at 10:06 pm
No one may not be turned away but who in the end pay for their care. People have been brainwashed to believe that it is better to have uninsured people who may or may not be able to pay any of their medical care and throw the price to the ones who are paying for higher premium.
Do you think it is just strange that medical cost keeps rising for no reason but to make profits for doctors and hospitals. Both of these do take a lost when they have to take on the reponsbility of taking care of the uninsured. We complain about the medications prices when you are in the hospital why do you think they are high.
How can anyone believe that it is better to have uninsured people seeking and getting medical care than to have people help paying for their medical care. You are not making money if people have no insurance but seek medical care but if they had their oown insurance premiums you would be making some.
It is so sad that people who cannot let go of the past would let people use them just to try to bring downthe president. People are beginning to catch on and are not going to let their so called leaders keep using them.