The 'Show Me' State Sends a Message

Right or wrong, Missouri may be saying that “It is time for Economic Triage”!

Courtesy: bethanysnyder.com

(HARRISVILLE, N.H.) - Missouri voters overwhelmingly passed Proposition C, a ballot measure rejecting the individual mandate associated with and attached to the Healthcare Reform bill pushed by President Obama. The measure garnered 71 percent of the vote and should have sent a resounding “NO” message to the current administration and Congress.

According to a Townhall.com Washington Beat article titled “MISSOURI VOTERS REJECT INDIVIDUAL MANDATE “ and published on August 10, 2010, “Nearly 670,000 Missourians voted for Proposition C. Interestingly, this was 90,000 more votes than were cast in the Republican primary. Do the math: If every voting Republican, third-party supporter and those who voted in favor of Prop C without voting for a primary candidate, it would leave at least 45,000 Democrats who also voted to exempt themselves from the mandate.”

Do not misinterpret what this vote means. It is clearly a rejection of the Individual Mandate . . . not of healthcare reform or the need for it. It appears that what the voter is having difficulty with is the REQUIREMENT that anyone who does not have healthcare provided by an employer MUST buy healthcare on his or her own or face a sizeable penalty.

It may be that the voters of Missouri would also reject the entire Healthcare reform package if put to a referendum type of vote but that is not clear at this point. The majority of individuals I communicate with believe that healthcare in the United States did need some work. I get pretty close to a 50-50 split in opinion that the Healthcare Reform passed by the current administration was the right way to go but about a 75% rejection of the Individual Mandate . . . about what we have seen from the recent results in Missouri.

Those who oppose the Individual Mandate, do so strongly. The reasons given are as follows: (1) It is unconstitutional under the commerce clause, (2) It is a dictatorial directive on what should be personal choice, (3) It is cost prohibitive to too many, and (4) It appears to grant a “police” type power to the Federal government that belongs with the states. Are any or all of these concerns valid? Well, in this case I would have to say that perception is reality in the eyes of the beholder. What is completely invalid to one may, in fact, be completely valid to another. Dictating to any individual what they MUST fit into their budget is certainly going to be a much more difficult thing to accomplish when so little forward progress has been made toward increasing the number of private sector jobs. As too many individuals are discovering, it is much more difficult to make ends meet with a reduced or missing income.

I cannot say whether what we just witnessed in Missouri was the right thing to have happened. However, I can say that it was understandable given the current economic conditions in our country. In my opinion, any attempt to fix a broken finger should wait until we have the arterial bleeding under control. Right or wrong, Missouri may be saying that “It is time for Economic Triage”!