Senator Mae Beavers (R-Mt. Juliet) and Representative Mark Pody (R-Lebanon) recently announced that they will sponsor a bill to resist implementation of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act in Tennessee.
The proposed measure is based on similar legislation already introduced in Georgia. Called the Tennessee Health Care Freedom and ACA Noncompliance Act, it would prohibit any cooperation by the state or its agencies in implementing or administering the federal health care program commonly referred to as “ObamaCare.”
Pody told the Review Friday that while “ObamaCare” is a federal law, he does not feel that state funds or agencies should be used to implement the program.
“What were trying to say is that if it (Affordable Care Act) is a federal program, Tennessee should not be forced to pay for it,” Pody shared. “We think anything having to do with the program should be paid for with federal dollars, and not state funds. We, as a state, should not have to enforce it, we should not have to administrate it, and we’re not going to fund it.”
Pody said the bill would not prevent Tenneseeans from enrolling in the federal program, or from using the policy in Tennessee. He said the measure only seeks to ensure that state agencies and funds will not be used to support the federal act.
“The people who have signed up can keep and use their policies. We are not trying to take anybody off, or negate their policy,” he said. “We just think it should be up to the federal government to clean up the mess that they have created. They implemented the program. They should have to pay for it.”
Pody said that Tennessee is in good financial shape compared to most states, and that he feels any participation in the federal health program could be financially disastrous.
“We have already been through this with TennCare, and we have already learned these lessons,” the representative shared. “I think if we see the train about to go off a cliff, it is prudent not to jump on that train.
“I’m not trying to say that the federal government cant enact the program,” Pody continued. “It has already been established that they can. I just don’t think the federal government should be allowed to use Tennessee money,” he said.
“The federal government does not have constitutional authority to commandeer state and local governments to enforce or implement these federal healthcare mandates,” Beavers said in a recent press release.  “It’s time that Tennessee says no to assisting them in the implementation of this disastrous program.  This legislation takes a very strong stand to resist this federal overreach of power.”
Beavers’ and Pody’s legislation:
•directs that no powers, assets, employees, agents or contractors of the state or its local government subdivisions, including higher education institutions, can be used to implement or administer the federal health care program;
•bans Obamacare healthcare exchanges in the state;
•prohibits local governments in Tennessee from participating in or purchasing insurance from an ObamaCare health insurance exchange;
•provides that any health insurance contracts purchased in violation shall be void in a court of law in Tennessee; and
•empowers the General Assembly to enact sanctions, fines and penalties for violation of the proposed law and gives the state’s Attorney General the right to file a lawsuit against violators.