Obamacare Repeal: Ohio to Vote on Banning Individual Mandate

After Obamacare was shoved down our generally unwilling throats, people’s opposition helped lead to the retirement of Nancy Pelosi as Speaker of the House.  But by then, Obamacare had been set in concrete with money set aside ahead of time to prevent opponents from defunding.  Meanwhile, a majority of states have joined a (so far) successful lawsuit to have the mess thrown out as unconstitutional, as some states like Missouri, have already voted to opt out.

Now, Ohio voters will have a chance to yell a strong statement of no confidence in Obamacare. From the story:

Ohio voters will get the chance to decide whether the state will opt out of the national health care overhaul. The state’s top election official said Tuesday that opponents of the federal Affordable Care Act have enough signatures to put a constitutional amendment on the Nov. 8 ballot that would prohibit Ohio from participating in the program. Secretary of State John Husted determined that supporters of the amendment had gathered 427,000 valid signatures. They had submitted more than 546,000 and needed roughly 358,000 signatures of them validated to make it on to the ballot.

The measure would change Ohio’s Constitution to prohibit any federal, state or local law from forcing Ohio residents, employers or health care providers to participate in a health care system. It also would prevent the state from enacting a Massachusetts-style health care program, where the state requires a minimum level of insurance coverage.

The more pressure by the states against Obamacare the better.  Rasmussen shows 57% still want repeal as of a few days ago (with most other polls still showing plurality opposition).  Meanwhile, people who receive health coverage from employment continues to decline, a problem that Obamacare waivers have not stemmed and which will only get worse as the law kicks into higher gear and employers kick people off of health care and pay the less expensive fine.

Hopefully, Ohio and other states’ continued resistance will lead to political circumstances where the people of this country can surgically remove this bureaucratically bloated federal seizure of health care and reform the “reform” to enable those who find it difficult to obtain insurance find coverage, while promoting price competition and insurance innovation across state lines.  There is a better way.