Palm Beach Post: "State won't enforce health law"

There was a great article on this morning's 1st page of the Palm Beach Post in regards to Florida's newest act in wanting to stop the Health Care Reform.  U.S. District Judge Roger Vinson declared that mandatory insurance is "unconstitutional;" therefore, Republican state officials have decided the "law is not in effect in Florida."  Read the article below....

"Health insurers that overcharge Florida consumers won't be required to issue rebate checks here, one of a raft of consequences emerging after a federal lower court judge declared the Affordable Care Act void.

Emboldened by Florida federal Judge Roger Vinson's decision that mandatory insurance is unconstitutional and the entire health act invalid, Republican state officials have taken the position that the law is not in effect in Florida.

As a result, they will not enforce a new rule requiring insurers to spend 80 to 85 percent of consumers' premiums on health care services.

They've snubbed $2 million worth of federal health reform planning grants meant to help states regulate their insurance industry and set up state-based insurance markets for individuals and small businesses.

It appears that Florida's stance leaves insurance companies to decide for themselves whether to comply with health reform rules.

Meanwhile, their counterparts in Indiana, Alabama, Arizona and other red states are asserting state's rights in a way not seen since the desegregation battles of the '60s.

In an exchange of letters and columns this week, the states have launched an orchestrated effort to slow, stop or remake health reform, in parallel with Congressional Republicans' threats to block health funding and swamp federal health agencies with document and hearing demands.

"We represent more than 115 million Americans," warned Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels in a Monday Wall Street Journal op-ed piece demanding greater state control over the state-based insurance markets. Twenty other governors signed on to his demands that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services give states more control...."

To read the rest of the article follow this link: http://tinyurl.com/PBPHealthLaw

BY: STACEY SINGER, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer