Wed
Feb 23 2011
03:54 pm
Opting out of federal health care mandates
By: R. Neal

Bill Nbr: SB0079
Sponsor: Beavers
Status:
Next sched. action: Mon, 2011/03/14

Description:

"This bill declares it to be the public policy of Tennessee that:

(1) Every person within the state is free to choose or to decline to choose any mode of securing health care services without penalty or threat of penalty; and

(2) Every person within the state has the right to purchase health insurance or to refuse to purchase health insurance.

This bill prohibits the state government from interfering with a citizen's right to purchase health insurance or with a citizen's right to refuse to purchase health insurance. This bill declares any law passed in violation of the policy expressed in this bill to be void ab initio. This bill prohibits any public official, employee, or agent of this state or any of its political subdivisions from acting to impose any penalty in Tennessee that violates the public policy set forth in this bill."

More info...

Topics:
R. Neal's picture

Bill has passed Senate, House

Submitted by R. Neal on Tue, 2011/03/01 - 12:30pm.

Bill has passed Senate, House has recommended passage and sent to calendar committee to schedule a vote. It appears to be sailing through...

bizgrrl's picture

Every person within the state

Submitted by bizgrrl on Tue, 2011/03/01 - 12:36pm.

Every person within the state has the right to purchase health insurance

This is interesting. What are they setting up to guarantee me the right to purchase health insurance in the State of Tennessee?

Andy Axel's picture

Perhaps to distinguish your

Submitted by Andy Axel on Tue, 2011/03/01 - 12:54pm.

Perhaps to distinguish your rights from your obligations.

Nonetheless, I suspect you will see no right to receive health care despite the right to buy coverage for it.

R. Neal's picture

Yeah, where's the obligation

Submitted by R. Neal on Tue, 2011/03/01 - 12:55pm.

Yeah, where's the obligation for an insurance company to sell it to me?

Andy Axel's picture

That might make for an

Submitted by Andy Axel on Tue, 2011/03/01 - 1:07pm.

That might make for an interesting challenge in court vis-a-vis the question of "insurability."

"Insurers say I'm 'uninsurable' but the state says that every person has the right to purchase health insurance. Doesn't that right imply that there's an obligation for someone to provide me with this service?"

Somebody's picture

Anyone who asserts their

Submitted by Somebody on Tue, 2011/03/01 - 1:03pm.

Anyone who asserts their right to refuse to purchase health insurance should be required to wear an alert bracelet that confirms that the bearer has also opted to refuse treatment without cash on the barrel head.

Also, anyone who has previously asserted their right to opt out, but at a later date decides to opt in, should be required to pay a pro-rated penalty, so that they can't be accused of attempting to game the system by opting in only when they feel a catastrophic illness coming on.

R. Neal's picture

Bill has cleared House

Submitted by R. Neal on Fri, 2011/03/04 - 1:27pm.

Bill has cleared House committees and is scheduled for a vote on Monday, 3/7. It has already passed the Senate. If the House passes the bill it will go to Haslam to be signed into law.

EricLykins's picture

We can settle all of this out

Submitted by EricLykins on Fri, 2011/03/04 - 5:50pm.

We can settle all of this out of court in 2014, or we could keep funneling as much taxpayer money as possible to constitutional lawyers (no offense to constitutional lawyers!)

I wrote about the Wyden Amendment months ago: (link...)

Obama is finally pushing it and it's being called the "ultimate repeal and replace" (link...)

However, it's going to die in Boehner's House because the first states to be granted waivers would likely be Vermont and Oregon.

By the time 2014 rolls around, we'll still be waiting for a Supreme Court decision on the Constitutionality of the bill Haslam is going to sign instead of trying the fancy new yet to be discovered Tennessee Republican plan that surpassess "ObamaCare" in coverage and cost control while Vermont experiments with single payer.

Let me know if I missed anything.

Oh, reminder: The individual mandate was a conservative idea until Obama stole it, then it was socialism.

R. Neal's picture

And the supreme irony is that

Submitted by R. Neal on Fri, 2011/03/04 - 5:53pm.

And the supreme irony is that Obama didn't even run on individual mandates, and in fact opposed them (except for dependent children) in the primary, but did advocate for a public option.

We ended up with individual mandates and no public option. Go figure.

Rachel's picture

We ended up with individual

Submitted by Rachel on Fri, 2011/03/04 - 8:02pm.

We ended up with individual mandates and no public option. Go figure.

The Republicans liked them. That is, until Obama endorsed them.

R. Neal's picture

Bill passed today, going to

Submitted by R. Neal on Mon, 2011/03/07 - 9:05pm.

Bill passed today, going to the Governor...

R. Neal's picture

KNS report on vote:

Submitted by R. Neal on Tue, 2011/03/08 - 6:37am.

KNS report on vote: Legislature rejects health-law mandate

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