Attorney General Roy Cooper won’t sue over the new health care law.
From WRAL:
“Health insurance reform and access to health care are policy decisions that should be decided by elected representatives, not by appointed federal judges,” he said in a letter to Gov. Beverly Perdue. “There is ample time for elected representatives to change this legislation since most of the provisions in question will not take effect until the year 2013.”
This is a cop-out. The constitutionality of the insurance mandate is questionable at best, even if members of Congress don’t care about the Constitution. Practically speaking, the new law will add 500,000 people to Medicaid in the state – a 30% increase. Premiums for individuals will climb an average of 13% compared to the unreformed alternative and it will make more sense to drop insurance until you need it, even with the IRS-enforced penalties. Cooper also stated North Carolina would be covered by whatever court decision comes about.
Cooper’s decision illustrates the free-rider problem, but he is right that there is still ample time for elected representatives in Washington to Repeal and Replace this awful and unpopular monstrosity. In the meantime, the noncompliance movement is on Facebook.
UPDATE: Linked to Rick Henderson’s post, which made it onto the LockerRoom while I was writing this one.
