ALEC Healthcare Release

PRESS RELEASE

For Immediate Release: Contact: Jorge Amselle
October 22, 2009 (202) 742-8536
jamselle@alec.org

Rep. Susan Lynn Tells Congress “No” to ObamaCare
Joins 1,800 State Lawmakers in Nationwide Effort to Preserve States’ Rights; Stop Single-Payer


NASHVILLE, TN – State Representative Susan Lynn (R-Lebanon) signed onto an official letter from the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) to Congressional leaders expressing the will of more than 1,800 state legislators opposing federal reform efforts—particularly, the Medicare-modeled “public plan” and a national health insurance exchange—which will trample states’ rights and lead Americans down the road to single-payer health care.

“Constitutionally, insurance is not the domain of the federal government but of the states,” said Rep. Lynn. “The real problem is that over the last 35 years states have allowed health insurance products to morph in ways that have served to hurt consumers - this problem started in the states and the solution lies with the states. A federal solution will not fix the problems within the states - it is past time we roll-up our sleeves and change things on the state level.”

The members of ALEC—the nation’s largest nonpartisan, individual membership association of state legislators—recently approved the Resolution on Preserving States’ Rights Regarding Federal Health Insurance Exchanges and a Public Plan, which deems the federal public plan anti-competitive and calls the proposed national health insurance exchange a “federal takeover” of the states’ role in regulating health insurance.

“The government will never compete unless it can change the rules to win,” says Iowa Representative Linda Upmeyer, minority whip, family nurse practitioner, and chair of ALEC’s Health and Human Services Task Force. “It’s an unlevel playing field when a public plan can shift costs to our state’s private insurers because of low doctor and hospital reimbursement rates, and then raid the federal Treasury for unlimited subsidies,” she added.

In the ALEC letter to Congress, ALEC’s lawmakers criticized the federal push to shift health care decisionmaking to Washington. “We all share the goal that patients deserve to choose their own quality, affordable, private health coverage,” the letter states. “But health reform shouldn’t just be the job of the federal government.”
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The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) is the nation's largest nonpartisan, individual membership organization of state legislators.