Symbolic Health Care Vote Slated Tuesday
July 28, 2010 – Viewed largely as a “symbolic” vote with no real weight of law, Missouri residents on Tuesday will hold the first statewide referendum on a key provision of recent federal health care overhaul efforts requiring people purchase health insurance by 2014 or pay a fine.
Missouri’s Proposition C, if approved by voters, would prohibit governments from forcing residents to purchase health insurance and prohibits governments from levying fines on residents unable to prove they have health insurance coverage. But even if approved by voters, the law largely would be symbolic due to federal law being superior to state law.
The Missouri Legislature already approved the ballot initiative, but it had to survive a legal challenge in time for Tuesday’s vote. Cole County Circuit Court Judge Paul Wilson on July 16 ruled the ballot measure was legal and Missouri residents would be able to vote for or against the national health care overhaul on Aug. 3. Plaintiff’s challenged the ballot initiative, saying state officials did not go through proper procedures or properly word the measure challenging the federal government’s authority to force Missouri residents to prove they have health insurance coverage by 2014 or pay a fine.
Wilson’s decision means Missouri residents will be the first in the nation to openly vote for or against federal health care overhaul efforts. The ballot initiative is more of a protest vote designed to gauge residents’ acceptance or rejection of the recent federal health care overhaul and might not be enforceable.
The $938 billion health care package that largely begins to take effect in 2013 requires qualifying individuals without health insurance to purchase it or pay an annual $750 fine – unless the individual is a member of certain religious groups, such as various Amish sects or the Church of Christ Science. It expands federal Medicaid health insurance coverage for the poor to people earning up to 133 percent of the federal poverty level – currently $10,830 for individuals and $22,050 for families with four members, and provides federal subsidies for qualifying individuals and families to help pay for health insurance coverage.
The legislation also creates health insurance exchanges for U.S. citizens to purchase affordable health insurance coverage with federal subsidies available for people earning up to 400 percent of the federal poverty level. Federal lawmakers say the health insurance mandate and creation of health insurance exchanges should help the estimated 31 million Americans currently lacking health insurance coverage to obtain it and force those who currently choose not to purchase health insurance to buy it.
The estimated cost of the health care reform plan – $938 billion over 10 years – is to be paid through increased taxes on individuals reporting more than $200,000 and couples reporting more than $250,000 in annual income. Taxes also will be levied on so-called “Cadillac” health insurance plans provided by employers and costing $10,200 annually for individuals and $27,500 for families, and tanning salons using ultraviolet lamps would have to pay a 10 percent excise tax. Capital gains taxes also will go up, in addition to several other taxes.
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