Idaho Chooses Life (ICL), the largest pro-life group in the Gem State, has formally declared its opposition to lawmakers giving the green light to building a state-based health insurance exchange.
In a statement released to IdahoReporter.com Tuesday, ICL president David Ripley says the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), the law through which exchanges are derived, is ripe with questionable policies.
“ObamaCare is loaded with subsidies for the abortion industry, which is why Planned Parenthood is pushing so hard for its enactment,” Ripley said. “We are very worried about the move to voluntarily assist in the federal take-over of health care inIdaho. It jeopardizes conscience rights of employers, contains massive subsidies for the abortion industry and will lead to rationed care for the elderly and disabled.”
Ripley also said that he curious why the state would implement part of a law that it’s suing to block.
“We are hard-pressed to understand the logic of building Obamacare even as we sue the federal government to stop it from being implemented,” Ripley warned. “It appears that the people of Idaho have a good shot at winning our argument before the U.S. Supreme Court. Why would we jeopardize our standing and credibility right on the eve of oral arguments?”
Idaho is one of 26 states suing over the PPACA in the Supreme Court. A decision in the case is expected in June.
To fix health care costs, Ripley says, lawmakers should look to the market for solutions, not the government.
“But we believe that the long-term solution to staggering insurance costs is in building a more vibrant private market, in which many more options are available to employers and individual families," Ripley said, adding that the health exchange might not meet its intended objective of lowering costs. “Some analysts argue that creation of a state insurance exchange will actually reduce competition inIdaho. That would certainly be a disastrous outcome.”
ICL is the second group to formally declare its opposition to a state-based health exchange. The other is the Idaho Freedom Foundation, which has actively spoken against the idea in several open meetings with lawmakers.
Rep. Sue Chew, D-Boise, introduced exchange legislation last week, but it has yet to receive a full hearing. Gov. Butch Otter told reporters last week he thinks the state is out of time to build its own exchange and that it’s likely the feds will have to step in to create one for Idaho.
Note: The Idaho Freedom Foundation publishes IdahoReporter.com.
