Milestone: More than half of all states now suing to escape Obamacare
You might call it a clear mandate for change.
Today, another six states joined the legal battle to overturn the federal Obamacare mandate — pushing the total number to 26*. (*Heritage says 27.)
That’s more than half the country seeking a permanent escape hatch.
Waiver-mania!
Via AP:
Six more states joined a lawsuit in Florida against President Obama’s health care overhaul on Tuesday, meaning more than half of the country is challenging the law.
The announcement was made as House members in Washington, led by Republicans, debated whether to repeal the law.
The six additional states, all with Republican attorneys general, joined Florida and 19 others in the legal action, Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi said.
“It sends a strong message that more than half of the states consider the health care law unconstitutional and are willing to fight it in court,” she said in a statement.
The states claim the health care law is unconstitutional and violates people’s rights by forcing them to buy health insurance by 2014 or face penalties.
Meanwhile, the Obama administration is appealing its loss in Virginia.
And I’m glad to see at least one Republican refusing to “tone it down.”
Here’s GOP Rep. Louis Gohmert blasting HHS waiver favoritism:
Gohmert, who brought a copy of the health care law with him to the event, made some jabs, accusing the administration of “crony capitalism” through the granting of health care waivers.
“If you’re a friend of the administration, you get a waiver, and it will cut your costs dramatically,” Gohmert said. “If you’re not a friend, you don’t get the waiver. You won’t compete with the friends of Obama. You’ll go out of business. Government shouldn’t have that kind of power. … Crony capitalism has got to stop.”
See what others have said
Note from Michelle: This section is for comments from michellemalkin.com's community of registered readers. Please don't assume that I agree with or endorse any particular comment just because I let it stand. A reminder: Anyone who fails to comply with my terms of use may lose his or her posting privilege.
Comments
You must be logged in to post a comment.
 |
Who’s funding Brett Kimberlin?
May 25, 2012 01:52 PM by Michelle Malkin
22 CommentsObama’s Land of the LOST
May 25, 2012 01:42 PM by Michelle Malkin
34 CommentsObama’s latest campaign angle: I’ve been saving America from wild Republican debts
May 24, 2012 04:33 PM by Doug Powers
48 Comments
Senate finally passes a budget approves bill striking word ‘lunatic’ from federal law
May 24, 2012 11:22 AM by Doug Powers
193 CommentsStammertime: Jay Carney asked if Chicago protests have soured Obama’s support for OWS
May 23, 2012 07:44 PM by Doug Powers
54 Comments
S.E. Cupp, Hustler, and the four stages of conservative female abuse
May 23, 2012 02:13 PM by Michelle Malkin
142 CommentsPig Maher’s boy Bill Burton mocks my support of Hatch challenger Dan Liljenquist
May 23, 2012 11:37 AM by Michelle Malkin
32 CommentsFree speech blogburst: Show solidarity for targeted conservative bloggers; Update: It’s Everybody Blog About Brett Kimberlin Day; Donation fund for targets
May 23, 2012 05:59 AM by Michelle Malkin
110 Comments
Jaczko the Jerk: Harry Reid’s sexist crony gets the boot
May 23, 2012 05:15 AM by Michelle Malkin
31 Comments
Categories: Health care,Politics
Babalu Blog
» U.S. Manned Space Flight in The 21st CenturyVillainous Company
» Must Read Post of the Day. Possibly, the YearRedstate
» Kimberlin’s Associates Caught on Tape?
But remember, the Republicans who are attempting to repeal this bill are the bad guys.
They’re trying to take stuff away from us that we already don’t want.
The audacity!
*I am very disappointed that Tennessee has not joined the lawsuit; We have just replaced Milqtoast Phil with Republican Bill Haslam, so maybe that will change; We have had Obamacare for years here in Tennessee under Tenncare, and it is bankrupting the state as predicted, so more piling on we do not need!
I live in The People’s Socialist Quagmire of California. Need I say more?
I realize the constiutional argument is strong and should be fought and won. However, I want to implore Americans to fight the battle against healthcare not only on a consitutional basis, but based upon the grounds that the quality of healthcare within a publicly-mandated system will S.U.C.K. beyond explanation, whether or not the constiution allows for it.
I live in Canada and regularly have to travel to America for healthcare. In Canada, people don’t have adequate quality of health services, nor do they have access to it. For example, approximately 15% of Canadians are without proper access to a family doctor. The majority of patients, once referred to a specialist, wait anywhere from 3 to 6 months to see the specialist.
After waiting for a specialist, a patient then has to go on a waiting list to get diagnostics, then wait for a follow up appointment with the specialist, at which time the patient will be instructed as to whether other tests are needed. If surgery is scheduled after the first round of tests, the wait for this too can be extensive. Because of the extensive waiting times, patients become more sick than otherwise would be the case if they were seen faster and their chances of beating their ailments is reduced.
In the end, to go through the process of seeking help and getting full treatment, the duration can often exceed one year. And that is if everything goes well. If tests are inconclusive, if a patient needs a second opinion etc., the total duration can exceed 18 to 24 months.
Even more depressing is the fact that we don’t get to choose specialists for the most part because each family doctor only works with a few specialists in each field of treatment in their geographical region. Because there is such a shortage of family doctors, you can’t switch between them to get access to another group of specialists. If you receive inferior treatment from the specialist you are directed to, it is much harder to go elsewhere and get the needed referral.
Lastly, because there is no incentive for doctors and specialist to invest in better medical treatment technologies, advancements that are introduced in the ‘for profit’ system in America and elsewhere aren’t made available to Canadians because they don’t have to be made available. Think about it, why would a public system that has a monopoly ever invest in doing things better if they are the only option for patients?
A public system is a death trap and the only players in the trap that can side-step it and get adequate treatment are members of the privelaged class that have the connections to do so. You can already see evidence of this with all the wiavers that are being granted.
It was yesterday or the day before that Yahoo had an AP article saying most people support healthcare reform. Pathetic propaganda that never stops.
*Like Louis Gohmert, I don’t plan on toning it down at all; We are never, ever wrong to speak the truth, and the constitution does not allow this administration to dictate over us as they do on a daily basis, whether mandating us to buy an insurance product, or how we are to educate our children.
*I am waiting for that first Governor to call P-BO’s bluff on any or all of these issues that have come down the pike, then dare him to come in and do something about it!
Yep. That’s where we are going to take it if D’oh!bamma Care stands. They’re all Proctologists now.
Michelle …
I suspect that Heritage is saying 27 because they are counting the State of Virginia plus the 26 states that are engaged in the joint action in Florida to get a total number of states suing over Obamacare …
Virginia may be on its own from a different approach based on a pre-emptive state law they passed before Obamacare was passed … but they still count in the overall numbers …
I just want to know where the American People’s Waiver is????
*I am from Canada, with many family members still there, and all that 123 says is factual; It was deplorable 15 to 20 years ago, and worse so now; My parents have no good options to maintaining quality of life under such a system; It has been painful to watch them suffer in a supposedly first world country!
So what if 27 states want to repeal Obamacare. There are still 30 more!
Bbbbut, I heard that Obama has now become a centrist. Doesn’t this mean that we should just shut up?
FACTS:
1. OBAMA IS A HARDCORE LEFTIST.
2. ANYONE TRYING TO PORTRAY HIM AS HAVING MOVED TO CENTER IS LYING TO YOU.
We must repeal this monstrosity.
Obama will never have to nor want to use the system that he is pushing on everyone else. He will try to his last breath to tell everyone how great Obamacare is and then he will travel around the world and visit private health clinics when his health requires him to do so.
The beautiful woman who owns this very website did a story on this type of phenomenom a couple months ago. Just replace the initalism U.S. with China and you will be foreshadowing Obama’s activity after he leaves office.
http://michellemalkin.com/2010/11/21/king-of-nation-with-universal-health-care-to-come-to-us/
The only way bho appears to be moving to the center is if the left goes further left.
Sorry, thought it was MM story, but just realized Doug produced it. Doug is beautiful to me as well, just not in that way though – not that there is anything wrong with that though, well other than the fact that human civilization can’t be sustained based upon that type of cohabitation.
What’s half of fifty-seven?
123upnorth …
So clear and concise, I quoted the whole thing!
RWR
http://www.rightwingrocker.com
We don’t get one.
That would defeat the entire purpose of having it, since We the People aren’t smart enough to know what’s good for us (or so says the Impostor-in Chief).
RWR
http://www.rightwingrocker.com
How many states does it take to nullify the law?
That’s an interesting question, because the Supreme Court has used a “majority of the states” kind of reasoning before, in particular, against the death penalty for murders committed when the perpetrator was under 18.
I don’t like that standard for the court; if even one state wants to differ from the others on a policy, it should be free to do so.
But if they are going to use it, it ought to apply in all cases. (Apply it in 1973, when 49 states had laws against abortion, and Roe v. Wade comes out a lot differently.)
Without the 17th amendment, 26 states could appoint 52 like-minded senators, and national health care, along with the unfunded impositions on the states, never passes in the first place.
This is too funny. You gotta love federalism. Tear it (Obamacare) down.
Better yet, after this “symbolic” vote by the House to repeal, it’s time for the GOP to do some real work like not funding the currently unfunded impacts that Obamacare will have on the rest of the government and, this would play well throughout the land, make all of the waivers permanent and create a process for making waiver requests cheap and easy.
Take the power to grant the waivers from the Oval Office and make it a simple qualifying action. You want to “opt out”? Be our guest, people and businesses of America. Let’s see the president justify why some are allowed waivers while others have to relinquish their freedom to choose.
OT but this is fantastic. Hawaii governor who was going to teach the Birthers a lesson can’t locate Obama’s birth certificate.
Wait! It’s gets worse! The state of Hawaii still refuses to validate the Certificate of Live Birth that has been by SNOPES and FactCheck.org. and can’t produce one either!
I’ve never been a birther but… case closed? Thanks for the help governor! You really taught those guys a lesson they will NEVER forget!
having worked in Tenncare for 3 year span I can tell you, more than 60% of the names I typed into the database came from the middle east and mexico.
People need to know that 80% of people on private health insurance plans are on employee benefit plans.
For that 80%, pre-existing conditions don’t matter because they are covered based on “community rating”.
The other 20% of the market is the individual and family market where they do turn down people with certain pre-existing conditions. But states fixed that with localized state government run high risk pools (often funded by taxes and fees to insurance companies doing business in the state).
This 129 million figure is as ridiculous as titling the repeal bill as repealing a ‘job killer’.
Political hackery. Political pundits get paid way too much to be too cute by half. This is a serious issue spending a lot of future money. . . and they talk about 129 million sick people, or job killing bill.
It’s not even worth debating with either side. They are both wrong. . . and ignorant.
Here’s an example of how stupid this bill is from a general overview:
The elected representatives decided to ‘fix’ helping sick people get well by focusing on how much income you have.
Seriously, everything in this bill is based on how much money you make (how much subsidy you get, are you on Medicaid? etc).
Nothing in this bill has to do with helping sick people. This bill has to do with helping poor people. THIS is why I don’t have much hope that anyone in DC has any helpful answer at all.
Sometimes poor people are healthy because they eat right and exercise. They don’t need the government paying for insurance they don’t need if they live a healthy lifestyle.
screw it. . . here’s another freaking solution. I have no idea why nobody listens to me, but they don’t so I say what I want knowing nobody would listen anyway.
The problem with cost is people using the emergency room when there isn’t an emergency. The LAW says they have to be treated. They need to make a new law saying that anyone using the emergency room when it isn’t a medical emergency should be directed to Urgent Care Facilities to be treated at a lower cost.
The problem is not that people don’t get care, it’s just not efficient. With health insurance they wills still go to the emergency room because they don’t know better.
That would save everyone tons of money and it would just need a tweak in the law requiring medical treatment for anyone who goes to an emergency room. Everybody gets cared for in the most efficient means by triage in the Emergency room directing people where they can be most efficiently treated for their condition.
Awwww, forget it. Secession is easier.
The operative word there is “sometimes”. Most “poor” (i.e. victim class) people I know are fat …real fat.
You can’t locate what never existed.
From the linked article:
Sorry, but I call BS on Obama’s entire birth narrative. I have no proof of the following, but I believe it to be true. This could mean he really is a natural born US citizen. But I’m leaning in the direction of the foreign exchange student.
Barack Obama is not Ann Dunham’s son, he is her half-brother. Stanley Dunham always wanted a son (he named his daughter Stanley Ann). I believe that Stanley had sex with a foreign exchange student or maybe just some young (or maybe even underage) black girl. That may be why a different father with Ann as “mother” was chosen. Besides, a half-black/half-white child (with a white father) in the 60s US would not have been a big deal. But a half-black/half-white child with a Kenyan father would have given him cachet in the liberal community. Hawaii is not his place of birth, but it could have been Washington. I believe the Dunham’s lived there before moving to Hawaii and Ann “giving birth.”
Unfortunately for us, Obama’s birth story is so murky, a 500 watt Klieg light couldn’t cut through it.
My story of Obama’s birth has no proof. But neither does Obama’s story of his own birth.
Excuse me, but half of 57 is not 26.
Thankfully, my state is trying to get out of this horrible socialism as well. Thank God the republicans won big.
Thacker, I like your idea along with making it easier to start up urgent care facilities. There are a lot of problems that could be dealt with through a Physician’s Assistant or a Nurse Practitioner. The problem is that the person would still have to have a diagnosis to determine if what they have is a real emergency.
Pasadena Phil said:
I’ve never been what you would call a “birther,” either. But as time goes on, I am becoming more suspicious all of the time. I believe there must be something having to do with the birth certificate and/or his college records that Obama doesn’t want known. I don’t know what that is, but where there’s smoke, there’s fire.
Wouldn’t it be a “shame,” assuming there is something to hide, that someone with access to these records leaked them during, say, October of 2012?
The pre-existing condition arguement making Obama-care necessary is incredibly stupid. All you need is a federal law that makes pre-existing conditions go away. And if they want to reduce prices, or make them affordable for all, ban small groups, if each state is one group, the poor pay just as much as the rich. Unfortunately, that is not what Obama wants.
Another problem is the insane discounts the medical industry gives to insurance companies. Of course the poor can’t afford healthcare if they don’t have insurance, hospitals charge up to 1,000% more to people without insurance. It that was based on cost, they couldn;t give insurance companies such a big discount. In many states, these costs insane prices are passed on to taxpayers and allow the hospitals to make big profits they can’t through insurance. Like almost everything when dealing with any government, it’s all a game with the governments playing the part of the unwilling and unknowing victem, when in fact they know exactly what they are doing and their palms are well greased to allow it to happen.
Just a brief post from the New York Post:
“Repeal of ObamaCare can’t come soon enough — as several damaging provisions are set to take effect this year.”
“For starters, it has effectively stopped the construction of physician-owned hospitals throughout the country.”
“Section 6001 of the health-care law required physician-owned hospitals to obtain their Medicare certification by the end of last year. Without it, they can’t treat Medicare patients. And the facilities needed to be open to get that certification.”
“So construction halted at 45 hospitals as the New Year arrived. Work on countless others will never start, having been effectively banned by ObamaCare. This will limit competition in the health-care marketplace, driving up costs for patients.”
Health Care for all so says the Mantra but, Health care for all but no place to go is the reality.
I said this on the Red Queen post, but we have to win the war of words throughout this whole affair and simultaneously declare the truth to the public and body politic.
We have to cut the Federal budget by at least 1/3. The balanced budget amendment/mandate is essential to killing off the power source of the Left…. public monies.
If 8 more states jump on board, they could call a const. convention and nullify the law…and the 17th amendment.
But Dingy Harry says we are wasting our time. He will see that the repeal gets blocked. Too bad citizens weren’t the only voters in Nevada.
Meanwhile, Gov. Suzana Martinez is going after driver’s licenses for illegals. Nevada will probably be seeing an influx of new voters from New Mexico.
And 24 states are not on board-we are a divided nation–this will not end well. The Progressive/statist/fascist such as Harry Reid/Botox Nancy and the Obaminations will not let anything so petty as a Constitutionally mandated election stand in their way.
===
Let your sidearm be like American Express:
Don’t Leave home without it.
Unless you are from Massachusetts or Illinois (and all too many others)
then you just die in place waiting for help. But the police will call for a body bag 30 or 40 minutes later.
Resistance is mandatory
This is what happens when you sign off on crappy legislation just so you can say “Ha ha, I passed it” and then think that the American Public will be stupid enough to just give up and not fight having a yoke put around their necks.
My waiver is Article 1, Section 8.
REPEAL!!!!!
then repeal some more stuff.
Welllll, if you could just WAIT and let them Think For You, you would then be “enlightened” and understand what they are TRYING to do. Isn’t it the effort that counts, and not the content?
Don’t be so ungrateful!! / sarc
Americans are fighting back. This, and other BS legislation imposed on us by careless thinkers, will not pass careful scrutiny.
I got good news last night, that the Superior Court for Fresno County declared California AB962 “constitutionally vague” and overturned it. This was the onerous law that prohibited internet purchases of ammunition, or components, and required OTC purchasers be fingerprinted, and their information denoted (but NOT submitted to the state). This boneheaded law did absolutley nothing but harrass gun owners, and limit interstate commerce.
Intelligent minds will ultimately rule in favor of the people…something ideological politicians can’t bear to do.
Is it possible that all 57 states will come on board?
Nanny state fascism in all it’s glory! I am glad the court overturned that particularly onerous law but the question remains: why in God’s name do the people of Kailifornia-People’s Republic of-keep voting for these fascist? I have met some good conservative Kailifornians-People’s Republic of-and they have bascially given up trying to work the Republican Party there.
When you talk of term limits Kailifornia-People’s Republic of-has had term limits for years. When the body politic is rotten form does not help. Perhaps an economic crash would cut the size of that state’s government but sadly our allies would be crushed too.There really is no good answer.
===
Let your sidearm be like American Express:
Don’t Leave home without it.
Resistance is mandatory
Are you mocking HeWhoWonOne again? You will hear from those intellectual heavyweights of the Left Bill Maher and Keith Overboard-perhaps Thrill Matthews too
HA! But where’s my kiss??
New Jersey might have taken part, but Gov. Christie doesn’t want to spend the money as long as others are doing so. (Considering how little NJ gets back in return for federal taxes paid, we’re going to freeload off the other states on this one.)
Other states may well be in agreement with the challenge, even if they’re not joining the suit.
Can we not get this right once and for all? He WENT to 57 states, had two more to go, and one he wasn’t going to. That’s a total of SIXTY states.
That’s easy. Generations of entitlement babies,and children of illegal immigrants are promised more and more freebies from the screeching left, in exchange for their votes.
The product of a liberal public education system is left-leaning ideologues who see how much money can be made/stolen/diverted from the public trough, through the examples by their elected officials.
On the left, you have many candidates from poor households running for office, and who get elected by their peers. On the right, you get candidates from mainly middle to upper income families, successful entrepreneurs, and others (who have made personal achievement a higher standard than simply living off the public dole,) getting elected from wealthier districts. The former outnumbers the latter.
The reality is, there are a larger number of takers, than there are providers.
The providers, already overtaxed, are leaving the state and taking their businesses with them. They are not only tired of the high taxation, and onerous regulations, but they’re tired of the left’s incessant bleating about how they don’t pay their fair share. It gets old hearing the same lamentation from the left, day in and day out, for decades.
Then you have the guilt-ridden liberals who either inherited wealth, or married into it. They are ashamed of the wealth they didn’t earn, and don’t want to be thought of as bad people, so they support liberal candidates, as well. (It’s their way of giving back without it having to come out of their own pockets.)
At least that’s my take on it.
I need to check my wife’s birth certificate. She was born at Kapiolani Hospital in 1956.
Rep. Louis Gohmert is awesome. I had the pleasure of meeting and talking with him back during the “Texas Tea Party” of 2008.
What was the “Texas Tea Party” of 2008?
Well it wasn’t a “Tea Party” in Texas, it was a “Texas Tea” Party on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives.
Remember?
From time to time, you still hear MSM’ers wondering aloud why the people are so angry. ObamaCare is just one reason; it’s also because of the other crap they shoved down our throats despite our LOUD protestations. It was the ObamaCrats who created this rancorous atmosphere that is American politics.
On January 19th, 2011 at 10:25 am, TigerLady said:
I still believe that was not a slip when he said that.
The Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) is the main organization representing the whole Muslim Ummah.
It consists of 57 member states.
What would someone say if they wanted to publicly say that they intend to make the United States the 58th member state of the OIC, but do it in a “coded” manner, such that Muslims “in the know” would get the message, but most Dhimmis would not?
I think it would go something like this…
Pretty much mine too-although I try to ignore it
The Roman Emperor Aurelian made the right to social welfare hereditary thus eliminating the need for citizens to work. Slavery made work hard to find–sort of like our immigration policy.
Will US repeat the welfare death of the Roman Empire?
===
Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms
should be a convenience store,
NOT a government agency.
Weren’t minorities and people without insurance taken care of before Obamacare? Isn’t your emergency room full of hispanics? Weren’t the folks who could afford their own insurance paying high premiums to cover the uninsured? Obamacare was supposed to lower the cost of healthcare to everyone. How can this be when before minorities and people without insurance were getting care for free. I know this is fact, because when my twins were born premature and had to stay in intensive care for 6 weeks, the crack babies in intensive were getting all care for free. I had to pay 52 grand. With Obama care everyone loses, the minorities and folks without insurance will now have to pay and those with insurance now will have to pay through their teeth to keep what you have. When we cannot afford the private insurance we will be forced to buy Obamacare. we lose either way. I really wanted comprehensive health care reform because now its even expensive with insurance.
And some of us hispanics pay cash before we leave–high deductible on self provided /pay insurerance. Losing that self provided /pay insurance and putting some of us hispanics in a pool with people who will not provide for themselves is one of my problems with ObamaCare–even if I am hispanic as it were.
If you mean illegals and moochers please say so–there are plenty of non-hispanic moochers.
===
Let your sidearm be like American Express:
Don’t Leave home without it.
Resistance is mandatory
Thank you AN, Let me rephrase then. Isn’t your emergency room full of illegals and moochers !
Perhaps I missed a MM post about this, but I do think we should say
to the Republicans (and 3 Democrats) who voted to pass the House bill to repeal Obamacare.
Support for Obamacare has always been purely partisan,
while OPPOSITION to Obamacare has been bipartisan.