President Obama's push for a health care overhaul has stalled, thanks largely to the election of Republican Senator Scott Brown. After the results of the special election were confirmed, it's likely that Brown will be sworn in ahead of schedule to guarantee that he is present for critical Senate votes. But just because Obama has slowed down doesn't mean that the states have. Conservative lawmakers in more than two-thirds of the states are forging ahead with constitutional amendments to ban health insurance mandates by the federal government.
Lawmakers in 35 states have proposed legislation rejecting health insurance mandates, according to the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). Many of the proposals are targeted for the November ballot, assuring that health care remains a hot topic as hundreds of federal and state lawmakers face re-election.
Supporters of the state measures portray them as a way of defending individual rights and state sovereignty, asserting that the federal government has no authority to tell states and their citizens to buy health insurance.
