While there are eleven
amendments on the ballot for the upcoming General Election to be held in
Alabama on November 6, there are two I am currently interested in. These two amendments are very important to
our state and need to be studied and review by every person going to the polls
to vote. In this blog, and upcoming
blogs related to these two amendments be warned, be educated and go vote the
way you see you need to vote.
Today, look at Amendment 6, the
Alabama Health Care Amendment, Amendment 6 (2012):
An overview of the amendment
From www.ballotpedia.org the
following information is found and is helpful in an overview of the bill.
“The Alabama Health Care
Amendment, also known as Amendment 6, will appear on the November 6, 2012
ballot in the state of Alabama as a legislatively-referred constitutional
amendment. The measure, according to the text of the amendment, would prohibit
mandatory participation in any health care system. The formal title of the
proposal is House Bill 60, and was introduced by multiple state representatives
in 2011 state legislative session.”
The synopsis of the bill, as
presented to the Alabama Legislature, reads as follows:
This bill would propose an
amendment to the Constitution of Alabama of 1901, to prohibit any person,
employer, or health care provider from being compelled to participate in any
health care system.
The ballot language of the
proposal reads:
“Proposing an amendment to the
Constitution of Alabama of 1901, to prohibit any person, employer, or health
care provider from being compelled to participate in any health care
system.” You will then be instructed to
vote: “Yes” or “No.” A yes vote will
allow this proposal to become law in the state and be added to the amendments
of the state constitution. By voting
yes, no one will be forced by the federal government to participate I any
health care system, which would limit options and/or force certain procedures
to be followed. By votind no, the
federal government will be able to force the Obama Health Care Act on the state
and we will have to-we must-follow the mandates of that act in the state, thus
taking away our sovereign rights in regards to health care.
Supporters of this amendment
include State Representative Phil Williams commented: “We want the people of
Alabama to know that if we're going to join a program like that we're going to
have it on a ballot and you and me and everyone will be able to vote and decide
if we want to join a national health plan or not."
As for opposition to the
proposed bill, there have been no formal opposition identified.
It is important to understand
that according to Article XVIII of the Alabama Constitution it takes a
three-fifths (60%) vote of the Alabama State Legislature to qualify an
amendment for the ballot. The measure was passed during the last day of 2011
state legislative session, officially sending it to the ballot in 2012 for
public vote.
According to www.blog.al.com and www.ccofal.org a YES vote on November
6 for Amendment 6, the OBAMA Health Care Opt Out proposed bill would prohibit
mandatory participation in any OBAMA Federal health care system. This amendment has the purpose of challenging
the overreaching Obama care and gives citizens legal authority to legally opt
out of mandatory Obama Health Care. A Yes vote is an anti-Obama Vote.
Voters in Alabama, Arizona,
Missouri, Montana and Arizona will be asked to vote on language challenging or
opting out of insurance reforms as outlined in the Obama Affordable Care Act,
including the individual-or employer-mandated coverage.
Alabama voters to have their
say on a proposed constitutional amendment that would prohibit the new federal
health care plan from being enforced in Alabama. The bill by Rep. Blaine
Galliher, R-Gadsden [will] go to voters in a statewide referendum in the next
general election in November 2012,
“It's important for us to
understand that although what we're doing today, I think, is symbolic, when you
look at the federal health care bill there are portions in the bill that in my
mind are going to send health care costs in the state skyrocketing,” he said.
“The general attitude of Alabamians is they do not want this intrusion from the
federal government," he added. Galliher said officials from Blue Cross and
Blue Shield, the largest health insurer in Alabama, have told him the federal
plan would increase its costs by $58 million in 2014, and those costs would be
passed on to consumers. Approval of the bill would lend support, Galliher said,
to Attorney General Luther Strange's lawsuit opposing the federal plan.
My Opinion
While there will be more to
follow on this issue in this blog at a later date, I for one would like to
remind the federal government we are a sovereign state and therefore are not to
told or held captive by them for the health care of our own people.
More to come!
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