密蘇里州於昨天進行開放式兩黨國會議員與州議會初選時進行一項針對健保改革關鍵
款的公投，即使密蘇里醫療協會投入鉅資打出警告廣告，但高達71%的選民表達他們對
於拒絕投保將被罰款的聯邦法律條文表達否定的立場。
由於聯邦法在多數情況下優於州法，本次公投僅被視為具有象徵式的意義。
Mo. voters reject key provision of health care law
By DAVID A. LIEB (AP) – 2 hours ago
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Missouri voters on Tuesday overwhelmingly rejected a
key provision of President Barack Obama's health care law, sending a clear
message of discontent to Washington and Democrats less than 100 days before
the midterm elections.
About 71 percent of Missouri voters backed a ballot measure, Proposition C,
that would prohibit the government from requiring people to have health
insurance or from penalizing them for not having it.
The Missouri law conflicts with a federal requirement that most people have
health insurance or face penalties starting in 2014.
Tuesday's vote was seen as largely symbolic because federal law generally
trumps state law. But it was also seen as a sign of growing voter
disillusionment with federal policies and a show of strength by conservatives
and the tea party movement.
"To us, it symbolized everything," said Annette Read, a tea party participant
from suburban St. Louis who quit her online retail job to lead a yearlong
campaign for the Missouri ballot measure. "The entire frustration in the
country ... how our government has misspent, how they haven't listened to the
people, this measure in general encompassed all of that."
Missouri's ballot also featured primaries for U.S. Senate, Congress and
numerous state legislative seats. But at many polling places, voters said
they were most passionate about the health insurance referendum.
"I believe that the general public has been duped about the benefits of the
health care proposal," said Mike Sampson of Jefferson City, an independent
emergency management contractor, who voted for the proposition. "My guess is
federal law will in fact supersede state law, but we need to send a message
to the folks in Washington, D.C., that people in the hinterlands are not
happy."
The health care referendum was helped by a high Republican turnout. In
Missouri's open primaries, voters do not have to register their party
affiliation. But far more people picked Republican ballots than Democratic
ones Tuesday.
Republican lawmakers originally wanted to place the measure on Missouri's
November ballot in the form of a state constitutional amendment. But to avoid
a Democratic filibuster in the state Senate, they agreed to scale it back to
a proposed law and place it on the primary ballot.
Legislatures in Arizona, Georgia, Idaho, Louisiana and Virginia have passed
similar statutes without referring them to the ballot, and voters in Arizona
and Oklahoma will vote on such measures as state constitutional amendments in
November. Missouri was the first state to challenge aspects of the federal
law in a referendum.
The intent of the federal requirement is to broaden the pool of healthy
people covered by insurers, thus holding down premiums that otherwise would
rise because of separate provisions prohibiting insurers from denying
coverage to people with poor health or pre-existing conditions.
But the insurance requirement has been one of the most contentious parts of
the new federal law. Public officials in well over a dozen states, including
Missouri, have filed lawsuits claiming Congress overstepped its
constitutional authority by requiring citizens to buy health insurance.
Federal courts are expected to weigh in well before the insurance requirement
takes effect about whether the federal health care overhaul is constitutional.
The Missouri Hospital Association spent $400,000 warning people that passage
of the ballot measure could increase hospitals' costs for treating the
uninsured, but there was little opposition to the measure from either
grass-roots organizations or from the unions and consumer groups that backed
the federal overhaul.
Some Missouri voters who opposed the ballot measure cited a potential
cost-shift to those who have insurance if some people are allowed to continue
visiting emergency rooms without insurance. Other opponents of Missouri's
ballot measure said they wanted to give Obama's health care plan a chance to
work.
"I don't think people should be walking around sick," said Kathy Ward, a
57-year-old Columbia nurse, who voted against Missouri's law. "The fact
remains, people have the right to have health care, and they should get it.
It help makes a healthier society."
Copyright c 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
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ALeqM5idZYibbYMZFrWqLtnc-HpmK0WKXAD9HCF3I80
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