Health Care Bill Opposed By 2nd SC Panel

A South Carolina House subcommittee has passed a bill that would let state voters decide this November whether to go along with the health care law just passed in Washington.

The bill would set up a referendum to change the state constitution to block any fines or penalties for people who don’t buy health insurance, as the new law requires.

Rep. Tim Scott, R-Charleston, sponsor of the bill, told the subcommittee, "It's simply about the fact that it's unconstitutional. Article 1 of the United States Constitution, Section 8, under the enumerated powers, simply you do not see health care. It is reserved to the states and I want South Carolinians to have an opportunity to simply say yes or to simply say no." 

And there were more than twenty South Carolinians who showed up at the subcommittee meeting to say “no”.

"I am in favor of health care. I am not in favor of Obamacare,” said Deborah Brill. “It is a further erosion of the Constitution by a Congress that has put its own interests above those of middle-class American citizens."

Debbie Spaugh told the subcommittee, "Those of us living in the real world know that this plan will result in increased taxes, increased medical costs, long waits for medical care and medical rationing."

But Columbia Tea Party activist Cory Norris said, "This has nothing to do with health care. This is a states rights issue."

One person spoke against the bill to block enforcement of the federal health care law--Sue Berkowitz, director of the Appleseed Legal Justice Center in Columbia.

"Every day, I receive phone calls from the uninsured, from people who call me asking me, 'Where do I get health care?' From people who are forced into bankruptcy because they can't afford the health care that they so desperately needed and the costs have far exceeded their ability to pay,” Berkowitz said.

Rep. James Smith, D-Columbia, argued that there’s no reason to pass a bill to ask South Carolina voters whether they want to change the state constitution.

"The question will be decided on interpretation of our U.S. Constitution, not what our state constitution says," he said.

South Carolina Attorney General Henry McMaster and 12 other state attorneys general are suing the federal government on the grounds that the federal government doesn’t have the power to force people to buy health insurance.

The subcommittee passed the bill by a vote of 3 to 2, so it now moves to the full House Judiciary Committee. A state Senate subcommittee passed a similar bill Wednesday.

The House was also going to consider a similar bill sponsored by Rep. Jeff Duncan, R-Laurens, but he and Rep. Scott decided to work together as co-sponsors of one bill to streamline the process.