Virginia’s House of Delegates on Thursday voted to defy a potential health insurance mandate from Congress. The vote, which follows the passage of a similar measure in the Virginia Senate last week, puts the state legislature squarely in opposition to a core provision of congressional Democrats’ health care bill.
The Virginia Health Care Freedom Act, sponsored by Del. Bob Marshall, R-Manassas, passed 72-26 in the Republican-controlled chamber.
The legislation looks to exempt Virginians from any government requirement to buy into a health plan, although its larger purpose is as a “message bill” meant to persuade federal legislators — especially those representing Virginia — to back off from the proposed overhaul.
“It’s pretty clear that government-run health care is unwelcome in Virginia,” said Victoria Cobb, president of the conservative Family Foundation. “Hopefully our federal representatives will get the message and pull the plug on Obamacare.”
The House’s passage of the bill was widely expected, while the Senate’s approval of its bill was far less assured considering the chamber’s 22-18 Democratic majority. Five Democratic senators broke ranks to support the legislation Feb. 1.
Opponents dismiss the legislation as a distraction that fails to address the commonwealth’s real health care problems. Medicaid and other services stand to see severe cuts this session as lawmakers look to close a $4.2 billion shortfall through 2012.
“It’s something that Virginia shouldn’t really be wasting its time with,” said Ali Faruk, health care policy analyst at the Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy. “It’s pretty much just a meaningless political stunt that does nothing for Virginians who are suffering from high prices and lack of health care.”
Marshall’s legislation had become the General Assembly’s most-read bill online, a reflection of health care’s dominance in the political debate both in Virginia and nationally.
The individual mandate — as well as other aspects of the health care overhaul — looks unlikely to see passage after Democrats in the U.S. Senate lost their filibuster-proof supermajority in January.
