Saturday, January 12, 2013

Kentucky's sleeper issue: health freedom

Kentucky's internal struggle with implementation of ObamaCare got its share of attention this week, but a key part of that fight just leapfrogged all other issues on the legislature's drawing board.

While Gov. Beshear yammered about raising the drop out age to "improve" education and legislative leaders feigned sudden interest on the long-ignored fronts of tax and pension reform, a consumer protection bill that actually works within ObamaCare while protecting consumers from its worst provisions gained more co-sponsors than any bill in either chamber.

Senator Tom Buford's health freedom bill was bumped up from SB 16 to SB 3, a strong sign of leadership recognizing it as a key priority. Fourteen other Senators quickly signed on their support.

The bill would simply force Kentucky's Department of Insurance to stop being more arbitrary than the Obama Administration with regard to a little-noticed protection for Christian free marketers written into the ObamaCare law.

Even most House Democrats don't want to be seen supporting ObamaCare, much less supporting state insurance bureaucrats in being more hostile to Kentucky consumers than the federal government currently is.

Please encourage your legislators to go on the record immediately in support of Senate Bill 3.