Democrat in Missouri to Oppose Health Care Law

[onehandle]

Source: New York Times

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Missouri’s Democratic attorney general broke with his party on Monday and urged a federal judge to invalidate the central provision of the new health care law.

The filing of the court brief by Attorney General Chris Koster, a onetime Republican state legislator who switched to the Democratic Party in 2007, underscores the act’s political tenuousness in a critical Midwestern swing state. Mr. Koster’s action followed months of pressure from state Republicans that he join attorneys general from other states who are challenging the constitutionality of the law.

Rather than join the litigation, however, Mr. Koster chose to file a “friend of the court” brief, or legal argument, in the Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit in Atlanta, which is reviewing one of five challenges to the act that have moved into the midlevel appellate courts.

Three lower court judges have upheld the law, while two have ruled that its central provision — the requirement that most Americans obtain insurance — is unconstitutional.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/12/us/politics/12missouri.html

[AlbertCat]

1. a onetime Republican state legislator who switched to the Democratic Party in 2007...

... will now do whatever it takes to remain with the good ol' boys.... switching here and there....

[FarPoint]

5. He wears a Democratic veil...

never was a Democrat.....

[patrice]

2. This is an example of how both ends are played AGAINST the middle. ALL Missourians, i.e. both

parties, should look at this guy to see how much "third" party support he's getting, since that will be the convenient place to be no matter how this thing finally completely splits.

[goobergoober01]

3. time to SWITCH BACK Chris.... and the whores you rode in on

[brooklynite]

6. Confused...I thought people here OPPOSED the mandate...

...all that support of private-sector, profiteering insurance companies.

[goobergoober01]

11. no real confusion, as i see it

It builds on private insurance system, adds requirements and incentives to ensure most people have some health insurance.
It increases the number of people who would get assistance, so it is affordable.
A dozen times over Obama, and others, concede that the bill is not perfect-- and should be amended as TIME and EXPERIECE show where the law is faulty.

SOMETIMES you get your loaf of bread all at one time, and sometimes one slice at a time.
THE PASSING of the law was the big deal.

The right answer is AMEND AND IMPROVE but the right-wing slur machine HATES that Obama is making any progress at all.

[RaleighNCDUer]

14. Nonetheless, it imposes a demand for people to BUY insurance

from a private provider or be in violation of the law.

It IS unconstitutional.

And unlike auto insurance, where you have the option of not driving, you have no option not breathing. It's almost as if the mandate was put in there to ultimately defeat the entire 'reform'.

OTOH, the government PROVIDING health insurance for all, and funding it through taxes IS constitutional.

Single-payer. It is the only REAL solution.

[Dawgs]

4. Sounds like 2011 Democrat.

:(

[No Elephants]

7. HCR's "central provision" is the mandate?

[patrice]

8. Good catch! It's central provision is universality. The mandate is an ecomically situational aspect

of universality. Different economics, different relationship to mandate.

I, for one, wonder why we just don't have those who object to a mandate sign contracts saying that if they get sick they will not seek any kind of insurance and, if they do get sick, special credit will be made available to them to seek treatment. I know there'd be details to work out, but the idea would be to give people the choice that they want and then also create economically functional consequences for those choices.

[pezDispenser]

9. I'd hate to make people choose

between never recieving any kind of insurance simply because they cannot afford the individual mandate.

[patrice]

15. Good point. That's why driving the price down through competition is necessary too.

Yes, competition was severely handicapped when a strong Public Option was barred from the legislative negotiations. I think they were probably saying that they could significantly drive prices down, and thus provide at least some competition, by reforming Medicare for fraud, waste, abuse, which contingency was, as I understand it, provided for in ACA 2010. We are starting to see that strategy come to bear now with announcements of "Medicare cuts", which are being characterized, at this point, as entirely on the backs of those receiving care, rather than admitting the degree of fraud, waste, and abuse in Medicare, reforming it for real on those traits, and, thus, obviating at least some of the criticism of Medicare coming from the opposition, making it more efficient and less expensive and, ultimately AFFORDABLE for those who cannot presently afford a mandate.

Unfortunately, Republicans are sitting in the cat-bird seat, yet again, on the issue of Medicare reform, because they can characterize ANY reform as cuts in services, while at the same time de-balling whatever reforms that do make it through Congress. Democrats are likely to show, once again, what a bunch of chicken-shits they are because this is more a Lower-economic-class problem, than it is a Middle Class problem, so they can cry crocodile tears while bitching about both "extremes" and sucking up to so-called "third" (Ha!) partyers since that will be a convenient place to be no matter how the demographic split on these issues works itself out.

[dflprincess]

17. How about we get some kind of agreement that if we're forced to buy

insurance from the same old for profit crooks there will be no out additional out of pocket expenses so that we can actually use the insurance we've been "mandated" into purchasing.

As the law is currently written, a good many of us will still be in the situation where we're paying for a product we still can't afford to use. Currently, most medical bankruptcies are filed by people who thought they were covered and nothing is this insurance scam is going to change that.

[valerief]

10. Sickening. Literally. nt

[Auntie Bush]

12. What a disgusting Democrat! nt

[proud2BlibKansan]

13. He's a slimeball who used to be a Republican

No surprise here.

[RedCloud]

16. Recall his butt!