Hundreds of Anti-Obamacare Bills Filed in State Legislatures

Decisions whether to repeal or repair Obamacare may be at a standstill on the federal level, but state governments nationwide are considering hundreds of bills that attack the law on several fronts, a review by the Center for Public Integrity finds.

Nationally, more than 700 bills related to Obamacare were filed in state legislatures either in 2014 or carried over from 2013, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures, and in five states, California, Hawaii, Illinois, New York, and Washington, 50 or more bills were filed in each state.

"The number of bills is remarkable," said NCSL health legislation expert Richard Cauchi, noting that it's not yet clear how many of those bills will come out again this year. But he and other experts do not expect the trend to change.

"There are definitely strong opposing opinions on the topic of the Affordable Care Act," said Cauchi.

Oklahoma State Republican Rep. Mike Ritze, who is a family doctor, has backed three anti-Obamacare bills that are supported by conservatives in his state and others, but none have become law.

"We need to do everything we can to try and reverse this," Ritze commented, according to the Center for Public Integrity's report. "We can make it harder to enforce if the states get together to attack it on all fronts."

Ritze, who says he has delivered more than 2,000 babies over 40 years of practice, calls Obamacare "socialized medicine" that will ration healthcare.

Nationally, the bills vary from trying to nullify the law or hinder enforcing it, while others are being pushed by tea party activists or early Obamacare foes, the center's review found.

But there are also scores of bills that seek to add to Obamacare as well, the review found, including expansions for Medicare, such as were passed in Ohio, drawing ire from conservatives against Republican Gov. John Kasich, who pushed for the measure.

Overall, the NCSL data shows, more than 75 Obamacare-related bills became law in 2014 on the state level, with about 50 of them moving Obamacare forward rather than restricting it.

But like on the national level, Republicans have made gains in state legislatures in the midterms, now controlling 69 of the states' 99 chambers, according to the Republican Legislative Campaign Committee.

One of the groups fighting Obamacare, the American Legislative Council (ALEC), says it is working to advance limited government, and favors instead a "Health Care Freedom Act" to suspend business licenses of insurers that accept money or subsidies from the Affordable Care Act, a measure that has failed in Kansas, Missouri, and Ohio.

Further, ALEC has pushed for bills in five states saying that no law should compel people or employers to participate in a national healthcare system; pushed for Medicaid expansion bans; and taken other measures, most of which have failed.

Spokeswoman Molly Fuhs said the group's board is looking for even more ways to deal with Obamacare.

Michael Boldin, founder of the 10th Amendment Center, commented that many people believe there is no way to stop a federal law, but calls that idea "absolutely absurd."

Obamacare adversaries are coming from all directions, said Boldin, including 10 bills in five states that outlaw the insurance exchanges' advertising, which he says would "pull the rug out from under it."

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