1. Missouri voters say "no": Missouri voters had a referendum on the individual mandate at the heart of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) health care reform law. They said no by a margin of 71 percent to 29 percent in support of Proposition C, based on the American Legislative Exchange Council’s (ALEC) Freedom of Choice in Health Care Act. Despite Democratic and Republican Party primaries, more than 40 percent of voters cast a ballot only on Proposition C. Arizona, Oklahoma, and Florida voters will have their chance in November.
2. Federal judge says "no": The Obama administration suffered another setback in federal court, too. U.S. District Court judge Henry E. Hudson declared the law "radically changes the landscape of health insurance coverage in America." He added that the case "raises a host of complex constitutional issues" and that the unprecedented "regulation of a person’s decision not to purchase a product" meant the case could not just be dismissed. Judge Hudson did not add that a government that can force you to buy insurance can also force you to buy a Chevy Volt.
3. Medicare actuary says "no": Medicare has another 12 years of surpluses, its trustees declared last week. But their report is based on assumptions that Medicare’s chief actuary says are unrealistic, the biggest of which is that payments to doctors will decline like the PPACA says. Those payments were supposed to start falling already, but Congress put off the day of reckoning until at least after elections this fall. If Medicare ever does start paying less for medical care, more doctors will stop seeing Medicare patients — which means Medicare benefits will decline, despite President Barack Obama’s reassurances.
