Missouri's Stunning Healthcare Reform Rebuke of Obama

I voted for prop C, but what I don't like about how the GOP is taking it so far, saying that it means the country is against Obamacare. MO is one state of 50 and does not represent the majority of the population. It also misrepresents the fact that all of these people are Republicans. I'm an Independant and the reason I voted for prop C is because I feel that the states should have the right to accept or decline the new healthcare program according to the opinion of it's citizens, rather than the federal government mandating it across the whole nation.

New Voter in MO of MO 10:52PM August 08, 2010

I don't have to live in Missouri to know what happened. I can read the local papers online as well as national ones. This was an obvious effort to use the GOP primary to get Obamacare scuttled. Clever Rovean tactic.

steve of IL 4:52PM August 06, 2010

The referendum doesn't indicate anything. There was an abnormally low overall voter turnout and a heavy Republican voter turnout due to the heavily contested GOP primary. Missouri is one of those states where you have to register by party and only 35% of voters for the senate candidates took a Democratic ballot showing that this was essentially a Republican primary.

http://www.sos.mo.gov/enrweb/statewideresults.asp?eid=283

Politico makes the exact same point;

The nation’s first health reform ballot initiative, this one to essentially block the individual mandate, passed Tuesday night in Missouri. Opponents of the reform law are holding up the overwhelming vote results – 71 percent support – as a sign that the White House has underestimated opposition to the law. AP story from Jefferson City, Mo. http://bit.ly/aGqs9E

--BUT WAIT — Missouri’s ballots had more competitive Republican primaries than Democratic ones, likely skewing support for the proposition.

http://www.politico.com/politicopulse/0810/politicopulse309.html

The ballot measure could harm Missouri's health care system;

"The Missouri Hospital Association spent $400,000 warning people that passage of the ballot measure could increase hospitals' costs for treating the uninsured..."

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5idZYibbYMZFrWqLtnc-HpmK0WKXAD9HCDD6O0

The measure was a setup by GOP operative to create the appearance of mass opposition. In essence, the ballot measure was intended to deceive the public as to public opinion on the ACA's insurance mandate provision, the result of which is expected to be overturned in the courts. The NYT explains;

"The referendum, known as Proposition C, was seen as a first look at efforts by conservatives to gather and rally their forces over the issue. Before the vote, the referendum had not appeared to to capture the general population's attention with any broad, statewide media campaign. Republican primary voters (who had the most competitive races on Tuesday) appeared to play a key role in the vote's fate; far more voters (577,612) cast ballots in the state's Republican primary for an open United States Senate seat as cast ballots for the Democratic candidates (315,787).

Practically speaking, it remains entirely uncertain what effect the vote will have. The insurance requirement of the federal health care law does not come into effect until 2014. By then, experts say, the courts are likely to weigh in on the provision requiring people to buy insurance."

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/04/us/politics/04midwest.html?_r=2&ref=todayspaper

So in essence there is nothing "stunning" about the results of the referendum. Health is a right. One's access to it should not be determined by ability to pay a market rate (or monopoly rate) for insurance or care. The costs should be spread over society. This is what the ACA does. Media Matters gives a composite summary;

http://mediamatters.org/research/201008040037

steve of IL 5:13PM August 05, 2010

Thanks.

Health care needs to change but not any change. Not what we are facing with obamacare

Bill Hedges of MO 11:42PM August 04, 2010