A Mississippi state Senate bill introduced this year would protect the residents’ health freedom by blocking enforcement of Obamacare in the state, rendering it virtually null and void in practice.

SB2768 was introduced on Jan. 19 by State Sen. Chris McDaniel (R-42) and would completely remove the state from any role in implementing or running Obamacare in Mississippi. The legislation prohibits any state agency, subdivision or employee from providing “material support, participation or assistance in any form” to the federal government for the purposes of implementing Obamacare.

It also bars any state agent or employee from enforcing “any federal act, law, order, rule or regulation of the federal government of the United States designed to give effect to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act,” Finally it bars the use of any state assets, funds or funds allocated by the state to assist any federal agency in the implementation of the PPACA.

Corporations and public officials who refuse to abide by these provisions would be punished harshly under SB2768. Corporations would be barred from operating within state boundaries. Public officials would be forced to abdicate their positions. Political subdivisions would become ineligible for grant money.

In addition, SB2768 bans the expansion of Medicaid.

Judge Andrew Napolitano has said that this action taken by a number of states would “gut Obamacare.” James Madison, writing in Federalist #46, said that such a “refusal to cooperate with officers of the Union” would create effective roadblocks to stop implementation of federal acts.

“The federal government can barely manage running a website,” said Mike Maharrey, national communications director for the Tenth Amendment Center. “If Mississippi withdraws all material support and resources from the implementation of Obamacare, this will effectively pull the rug out from under it in practice,” he continued.

SB2768 also specifically targets the individual and the employer mandates. The legislation declares “any health insurance issuer operating in this state shall not accept any remuneration, credit or subsidy, as described in 42 USC 18082.” If an insurance company violated the law, the state would suspend its license to operate in the state, potentially nullifying the ability of the federal government to carry out the mandate, or even operate the exchange in the state.

Under Obamacare, if a business doesn’t purchase a government-approved level of health benefits for its employees, some of those workers might be eligible to purchase subsidized coverage through a health insurance “exchange.” In Mississippi, the federal government operates the exchange. From there, the IRS would give subsidies to the insurance companies on behalf of those workers, triggering penalties against the employer. Businesses with 100 employees can face penalties as high as $140,000.

As the controversy in a case known as Halbig v Burwell lays out, Congress authorized those subsides, and therefore those penalties, only in states that establish a health insurance Exchange. For those states, like Mississippi, that defer the exchange to the federal government, Obamacare provides that there are no subsidies and therefore no penalties against employers.

Unsurprisingly, the IRS has pushed ahead and will implement those subsidies in the 36 states that have refused to establish exchanges. SB2768 would create a serious roadblock for the IRS if passed in Mississippi.

In his paper, 50 Vetoes: How States Can Stop the Obama Health Care Law, Michael Cannon of the CATO Institute gives more details about how such legislation would work:

With such a law, states could block the IRS from imposing illegal taxes on its employers and residents, and even prevent the federal government from operating an Exchange within the state.

Carriers would know that the moment they accepted one of the IRS’s illegal subsidies, state law would prohibit them from writing any new business in that state. Moreover, since they would no longer be licensed and in good standing with the state, they would no longer qualify under the PPACA as an issuer of “qualified health plans.” The PPACA itself would then preclude them from writing new business or receiving subsidies through any Exchanges nationwide, for as long as the suspension remained in place. Without the (illegal) subsidies, consumers and carriers would have no reason to participate in a federal Exchange.

States could thus free their employers from the employer mandate even if the Obama administration attempts to impose its proposed illegal taxes. Employers face those tax penalties only if one of their employees enrolls in “a qualified health plan with respect to which an applicable premium tax credit . . . is allowed.” Under a strengthened Health Care Freedom Act, employers could not be penalized because the health plan would cease to be a qualified health plan the moment the issuer accepted a penaltytriggering subsidy. As important, carriers simply will not offer those plans if it means they will be barred from writing new business in that state and through state and federal Exchanges nationwide.

SB2768 was referred to the Senate Public Health and Welfare Committee where it will need to pass through successfully before it can receive a vote from the full state senate.

TAKE ACTION

In Mississippi: Take steps to support SB2768 HERE

In other states: Take measures to stop Obamacare in your state HERE

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