Florida Attorney General Threatens Lawsuit If Health Insurance Becomes Mandatory

Published: Thu 21 Jan 2010

Perry Begay

In a highly complex argument about the nuances of the United States Constitution, Florida Attorney General and former Republican congressman Bill McCollum announced on Tuesday that legislative provisions to compel Americans to purchase health insurance or pay a fine are illegal, and he will file a lawsuit if such provisions become law.

In a memo McCollum sent to Senate and House leadership, including Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi, the attorney general referred to the mandate requiring all Americans to purchase medical coverage as a "living tax" that punishes people unconstitutionally for their inactivity.

"Never before has Congress compelled Americans, under threat of government fines or taxes, to purchase an unwanted product or service simply as a constitution of existing in the country (a 'living tax')," Attorney General McCollum wrote to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., Minority Leader Mitch McCollum, R-Ky., House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Pa., and Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio.

According to McCollum, a citizen's decision not to purchase health insurance cannot reasonably be construed as an economic activity governed by the Commerce Clause.

"The Commerce Clause gives no authority for Congress to transform a citizen's individual choice to be inactive in the marketplace into a compulsion to purchase apparently unwanted insurance or be penalized," the attorney general wrote.

McCollum added that taxes that are applied directly across the population must be "apportioned by the population of each state."

McCollum argued that he has the right to file the lawsuit as Florida's attorney general.

"While affected citizens of every state may pursue judicial relief from the individual mandate provisions, states have standing to sue the federal government to protect their sovereign and quasi-sovereign interests," he wrote.

McCollum is the presumptive nominee for the upcoming gubernatorial election in Florida, which has led to speculation that the attorney general is using the lawsuit to rally conservatives before the election. Other Florida politicians have accused McCollum of exploiting the lawsuit for his own political gain.

"Florida has an insurance crisis-20 percent of our citizens have no insurance," argued Senator Dan Gelber of Miami Beach, one of two Democrats running for McCollum's seat. "I have no clue what McCollum will do to solve this crisis, other than threaten to sue Congress when it tries to solve the problem."

When queried about what he would do as governor to assist the approximately four million Floridians without health insurance, McCollum dismissed the inquiry as a "political question" and said "that's not what I'm here about today."