OUR VIEW: Law would defend health care choice (vote in poll)
Caldara files draft of health care reform
Rights activist Jon Caldara and the Independence Institute moved Colorado another step toward its own brand of health care reform, filing with state officials a proposed amendment to the Colorado Bill of Rights called the “Right to health care choice.”
A public rally in favor of the bill will be at noon Tuesday, on the west steps of the Capitol.
The amendment would forbid government from forcing individuals to buy private health insurance — an attempt to counter proposed federal legislation. It would preserve the rights of individuals to pay cash for health care services, and it would uphold the right of Coloradans to buy health insurance plans from providers in other states.
The House and Senate versions of proposed federal health care reform would greatly restrict the rights of individuals to make their own health care decisions. The proposed amendment, if upheld by the courts, could make Colorado a unique enclave of health care freedom of choice. Visualize Colorado, five years from now, as a mecca for intra-national and international health care tourism.
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Nothing in the United States Constitution empowers the federal government to mandate that individuals buy health insurance. Much in the Constitution, however, could be interpreted to preclude government from doing so. The First Amendment has been interpreted by the courts to protect freedom of association, which should include the freedom to buy or not buy insurance from a private business. The 10th Amendment forbids the federal government from exercising authority not granted in the Constitution. Though it seems clear to most Americans, these constitutional principles are lost on a majority in Congress.
Below is the wording of the proposed constitutional amendment, which would seek to uphold the basic right of Colorado residents to make their own health care decisions. — Wayne Laugesen, editorial page editor, for the editorial board
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Right to Health Care Choice
“Be it Enacted by the People of the State of Colorado: Article II of the Constitution of the State of Colorado is amended BY THE ADDITION OF A NEW SECTION TO READ:
Section 32. Right to health care choice.
(1) All persons shall have the right of health care choice. No statute, regulation, resolution or policy adopted or enforced by the State of Colorado, its departments and agencies independently or at the instance of the United States shall require any person to participate in any public or private health benefit plan or system, deny, restrict or penalize the right of any person to make or receive direct payments for lawful health benefit services, nor deny, restrict or penalize the right of any person to purchase and use health insurance products or other health benefit plans or systems legal for sale in any other state where such plans or systems are duly licensed or otherwise qualified and in good standing in the provider’s home state.
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(2) This section shall not apply to, affect or prohibit: (a) emergency services required by law to be provided or performed by hospitals, health facilities or other health practitioners; or (b) health benefits provided in connection with worker’s compensation or other similar insurance.
(3) “Lawful health care services” means any service or treatment permitted or not prohibited by any provision of law.
(4) This section is intended to reflect and affirm the powers reserved to the state by Article X of the Constitution of the United States and to implement the powers reserved to the People by Article V of the Constitution of the State of Colorado.
(5) This section shall become effective upon proclamation by the Governor, shall be self implementing in all respects and shall supersede any provision to the contrary in the Constitution of the State of Colorado or any other provision of law.
(6) If any provision of this section of the application thereof to any person, entity or circumstances is held invalid, such invalidity shall not affect other provisions or applications of this section which can be given effect without the invalid provision or application, and to this end the provisions of this section are declared severable.”
