Two state reps ask attorney general to prepare legal action against federal health bill

State Representatives Scott Plakon (R – Longwood) and Steve Precourt (R – Windermere) asked Florida State Attorney General Bill

Scott Plakon

McCollum this afternoon to investigate and to prepare to take appropriate legal action against the federal government in the event the controversial federal healthcare takeover legislation passes into law.

The legislators requested this action in order to pursue relief for Floridians from the unfunded mandates contained in the bill should Florida be forced to comply with the expansion of the federal Medicaid program and to seek relief from the individual mandates proposed which could ultimately result in large fines and/or prison sentences for Floridians based on their good faith healthcare choices.

The Representatives noted that under the bills, Florida would be forced to radically expand the state’s Medicaid program costing the citizens of the state billions of dollars. Floridians would be forced to pay for people permanently exempted from paying the costs, such as in the case of the infamous sweetheart “Cornhusker Kickback” where Nebraska Senator Nelson voted for cloture with the promise that his state could be exempt from Medicaid expansion while Floridians would still pay.

Steve Precourt

“Such an expansion would place a horrendous burden on the citizens of this state, requiring huge tax increases and/or cuts in critical priorities such as education and public safety,” stated Representative Precourt. “It is also clear by the wording of the legislation that not every state would benefit equally nor face a similar burden. Floridians deserve to be treated fairly under any plan put into law.”

In addition, the Representatives expressed concern over the constitutionality of the unprecedented individual mandates proposed. Under the proposed legislation, the newly created “Health Choices Commissioner” would use the Internal Revenue Service as its enforcement agent to make sure that Floridians purchase an approved policy from a federally approved entity or pay penalties for not doing so. Failure to do so could result in Floridians being subjected in fines of up to $250,000 and/or prison sentences of up to 5 years.

A major issue for all 50 states is that the states are not controlling how these programs are run, but ultimately must find a way to fund them.

“We can’t print money like they do in Washington and it’s important to make sure that our citizens are protected,” stated Precourt.

“Obviously the overwhelming fiscal impact on the states that are already struggling with their budgets is something that the Democrats in control of the levers of power in Washington just don’t seem to care about,” stated Plakon.

Plakon and Precourt noted that since the potential passage of the Senate Bill appears imminent, it’s important that the Attorney General prepare to take immediate action.

“Collectively, we see these actions as a brazen attack by the federal government on our civil rights, our sovereignty, our individual freedom and the Constitution of the United States,” Plakon added.

————————————————————————–
December 23, 2009
Attorney General Bill McCollum
State of Florida
The Capitol PL‐01
Tallahassee, FL 32399‐1015
Dear General McCollum,

The purpose of this letter is to formally request that you investigate what recourse and/or
protections Florida citizens may have in the event the currently debated healthcare takeover
legislation is passed into law by the United States Government and to request that your office
take appropriate action in the event that this legislation becomes law.

Although our concerns regarding this legislation are numerous, we are asking that you look into
the constitutionality of two particular areas:

First, in light of the various instances of “sweetheart deals” that have recently taken place in
the United States Senate, there may be a question of whether Floridians will receive unequal
treatment as it pertains to Medicaid. For example, Senator Ben Nelson of Nebraska voted for
cloture only after his state was guaranteed full federal aid for his state in perpetuity while the
other 49 states are forced to pay for this entitlement for their citizens. Floridians will be faced
with an unfunded mandate in excess of $13 billion dollars over the next 10 years while
Nebraskans will not be subjected to any such mandate.

This unequal treatment will put an overwhelming strain on our state budget and force our state
to make no‐win choices on how to fund this federal mandate while avoiding cuts to critical
programs such as education and public safety. It is also widely reported that other such
“sweetheart deals” were made with Senator Mary Landrieu of Louisiana and other Senators to
obtain their support for the healthcare bill, while the citizens of Florida and other states were
not afforded the same benefits.

It is without question that these actions amount to the worst kind of backroom politics, but we
are concerned that Floridians may not be getting the “equal protection” that we are all
guaranteed under the United States Constitution.

The second area of concern is the individual mandates proposed. For example, the House bill
provides for individual fines of 2.5% if Floridians do not obtain “acceptable health insurance
coverage” as determined by the proposed “Health Choices Commissioner”. If a Floridian does
not pay this fine, he or she may be subject to a further fine of up to $250,000 or 5 years in
prison. For the first time in history, this legislation proposes to fine and/or imprison Floridians
for not purchasing a product from a private seller.

When such a scheme was proposed during the 1994 healthcare debates in Congress, the
Congressional Budget Office said, “A mandate requiring all individuals to purchase health
insurance would be an unprecedented form of federal action. The government has never
required people to buy any good or service as a condition of lawful residence in the United
States.” Presumably, in defending this, the federal government will attempt to use a
“Commerce Clause” argument, but we believe this proposed legislation goes far beyond
anything we have seen before and its constitutionality should be challenged.

Our view is that these actions are a brazen attack by the federal government on our civil rights,
our sovereignty, our individual freedom and the United States Constitution.

Thank you for all of the hard work you’ve put forth since becoming Attorney General in
protecting Floridians in so many ways. Thank you for your willingness to continue to do so as it
relates to making sure that Floridians are being treated equitably and constitutionally by our
federal government.

Best Regards,
Representative Scott Plakon

Representative Steve Precourt

Related posts:

1. Florida attorney general joins 12 other states attorney generals in letter against health care bill
2. Florida attorney general: Individual mandate discussed during health care summit is unconstitutional
3. Attorney general prepares lawsuit while Obama, Klein extol historic health care bill passed by Congress
4. Florida Gov. Scott, 32 other Governors Speak out on Federal Healthcare Mandates
5. Florida, 12 other states fill constitutionality suit against health care bill

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Posted by Andrea Freygang on Dec 23 2009. Filed under Broward County, Federal Government, Fort Lauderdale, Health, Local news, Tallahassee. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry