Legislators seek state amendment to trump health reform legislation

Sen. Mary Pilcher-Cook, Shawnee, is one of three state lawmakers who plans to introduce in 2010 a constitutional amendment designed to keep Kansans from being forced into buying health insurance mandated by any legislation coming out of Congress.

Cook, a Republican, will join Health and Human Services Chair Rep. Brenda Landwehr, R-Wichita, and Assistant House Majority Leader Peggy Mast, R-Emporia, in filing the resolution at the same time in both chambers.

Passage of the Health Care Freedom Amendment, they say, would give Kansans a choice in joining any health care system regardless of health care reform legislation passed by Congress.

Cook said some in the federal government are on a radical path to take away Americans’ health care freedoms. If her proposed constitutional amendment is approved by two-thirds of the state Senate and two-thirds of the state House, it would be put on the November 2010 ballot for Kansas voters.

“You can’t force people to comply with (a mandate) unless you also penalize them; you have to have some enforcement,” Cook said. “And with the enforcement you would not only have penalty and fines, but ultimately, with the federal legislation you’re talking about jail time.

“Every American deserves good, quality and affordable health care and there are all kinds of ways we can do that without a government mandate. Instead, we need to have incentives in place. We have some great safety net health clinics; we have lots of ways to reach out and help more of the uninsured and keep our costs lower without destroying the good insurance and good health care that (Kansans) have.

“Could we do a better job? Yes. Do we want to destroy the current good health care system in Kansas? No.”

Cook said the state constitutional amendment would strengthen Kansas’ sovereignty. Under the proposed amendment, any federal attempt to require an individual to purchase health insurance or to forbid a person from purchasing services outside of the required health care system would be unconstitutional.

Passage of both the state amendment and any federal health care legislation that mandates individuals purchase health insurance likely would set up a critical constitutional showdown that could be decided by the U.S. Supreme Court, said constitutional law professors Kris Kobach, University of Missouri-Kansas City, and Tom Stacy, University of Kansas. (See related story.)

Tyler Longpine, communications director for the Kansas Democratic Party, said he is confused by the proposed amendment.

“I’m curious if this is truly something they believe in, in principle, then what about car insurance?” he said. “These three are part of a (legislative) body that compels Kansans to carry automotive insurance. Why is somebody’s car more important than somebody’s health?

“There are 350,000 Kansans without health insurance and the state is not taking any action, particularly these three legislators haven’t done anything or are doing anything to remedy that solution, but they are standing in the way of somebody else’s solution. They are not offering their own alternative.”

Cook said vehicle insurance is “vastly” different.

“(With health insurance) you’re talking about somebody just by the virtue of someone being born, they have to purchase something, which is a violation of individual liberty,” Cook said.

Longpine said he thinks the three are over-reacting.

“They are pre-emptively reacting, it’s pre-actionary,” he said. “They are reacting when we don’t even know what’s coming down the pike ...They are trying to create a crisis and craft legislation in response to reforms that haven’t even passed yet.”

Cook said if Kansans approve the amendment next November it will send a message to Washington.

“I think the state sovereignty aspect is so important because the states were created to have sovereignty and over the years we’ve been losing more and more of it,” she said. “I think people are starting to wake up and realizing that we are losing our liberty and there comes a time when you need to take a stand.”

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