As Congress readies to merge the Senate and House healthcare reform bills, some states, including Idaho, are stepping up to serve as the latest roadblock.
Idaho's Republican governor, Clement L. "Butch" Otter, recently announced he would fight reform efforts and possibly sue the United States over the constitutionality of the issue.
Otter sent letters on Dec, 20 to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), arguing that healthcare reform legislation being considered by Congress sacrifices "fiscal responsibility, sound judgment and constitutionality for political expediency."
"I question the wisdom as well as the constitutionality and legality of these bills and will explore all my options, including legal action, to protect Idaho and the U.S. Constitution should Congress adopt and the president sign compromise healthcare legislation," he wrote. "Given the bills now before the conference committee, all that truly will be 'compromised' is our American system of government in exchange for a multi-generational legacy of debt."
Otter said both bills represent "a fundamental disconnect with the real challenges and priorities of ordinary Americans."
He argued that the Constitution does not empower Congress to mandate compulsory healthcare coverage or to create what he calls "a nationalized healthcare system."
AARP officials say Otter's fight is the wrong direction to take in tackling the state's growing healthcare crisis and called the constitutional challenge a scare tactic and unfounded.
"Governor Otter's announcement to rail against healthcare reform is premature, unnecessary and, if successful, would do much more harm than good for hundreds of thousands of Idahoans struggling with high healthcare costs," said Jim Wordelman, the state's director for the AARP. "This move puts the interests and profits of insurance and drug companies before the needs of Idaho families, businesses and retirees buckling under insurance premiums and rising prescription drug prices."
In Idaho, 222,000 people are uninsured, 80 percent of which are employed, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.
"To simply say 'no' to healthcare reform can only serve to make Idaho's healthcare crisis worse; the cost of inaction on this issue is too high," Wordelman said. "We're calling on Idaho's elected officials to set partisan politics aside and work to make the final healthcare reform bill the best it can be – that's what Idaho deserves."
Both the Senate and House healthcare reform bills would aim to lower drug costs, help the uninsured and businesses have more affordable access to health insurance, ensure people with pre-existing conditions have access to health insurance, hold insurers more accountable to consumers, protect choice of doctors and hold down the costs of coverage.
AARP leaders say they are committed to making the final healthcare reform package stronger by working to permanently close the so-called Medicare Part D "doughnut hole" once the Senate bill is merged with the House bill. Both bills have moved forward without support from Idaho's Congressional delegation.