Missouri Votes to Block Health Care Reform

State won't require people to buy insurance
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 4, 2010 1:18 AM CDT
Missouri Votes to Block Health Care Reform
Dwight Janson assembles yard signs during a rally and fundraiser for supporters of Proposition C, a ballot measure to block the the new federal health insurance law.   (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)

Missouri residents have voted to block a portion of President Obama's health care reform. In a vote seen as largely symbolic, 73% of voters approved a state law saying Missouri can't penalize people for not having health insurance. The law is unlikely to have any practical effect because the relevant portion of the federal health measure won't take effect until 2014, by which time experts believe federal courts will either have upheld it or struck it down, the New York Times reports.

"This really wasn’t an effort to poke the president in the eye,” said Republican state senator Jim Lembke. “First and foremost, this was about defining the role of state government and the role of federal government. Whether it’s here in Missouri with health care or in Arizona with illegal immigration, the states are going to get together on this now." (More Missouri stories.)

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