Attorney General to File Lawsuit Against Health Care Reform

03/18/2010

After being the first state to bar health insurance mandates, Virginia's attorney general may now be threatening legal action.

A spokesman for Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli said that a lawsuit against the health care reform bill is a definite, according to a recent report by the Washington Post. Cuccinelli also sent a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi explaining that using a "deem and pass" to pass health reform in the House would violate Article 1, Section 7 of the Constitution. This section pertains to Congressional voting and is aimed at making legislators fully-accountable for their votes.

"A bill of this magnitude should not be passed using this maneuver," Cuccinelli wrote. "As the president noted last week, the American people are entitled to an up or down vote."

The Virginia General Assembly recently passed a bill making it illegal for governments to require consumers to purchase health insurance. The bar would protect the state's residents from financial penalties or fees currently included in the federal health care reform.

Virginia is not alone in its opposition to universal health care mandates. Lawmakers in 34 other states have considered similar proposals to prevent the government from fining individuals or businesses for not purchasing insurance, according to the Post.

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