Idaho Freedom Foundation Executive Director Wayne Hoffman said Thursday the IFF will stand with the state of Idaho and join in any legal action to keep Idahoans free from having to buy health insurance under a federally-passed health insurance mandate.

Gov. Butch Otter on Wednesday signed the Idaho Health Freedom Act, which says residents of Idaho won't be compelled by the federal government to buy health insurance. The bill also provides that the attorney general will file suit in the event that the federal government passes legislation mandating that Americans buy health insurance.

"The federal government simply has no business telling Idahoans to buy insurance as a condition of their status as law-abiding citizens," said Idaho Freedom Foundation Executive Director Wayne Hoffman. "There is nothing in the U.S. Constitution mandating Americans buy health insurance. Under the Tenth Amendment, it is the state's prerogative to tell the federal government it has no jurisdiction in this matter. When the time comes, we'll be happy to stand with the state to help deliver that message to the federal government in a court of law."

Last year, the Idaho Freedom Foundation suggested that the state use its authority to block the federal government from taking action that would require that Idahoans buy insurance. In December, IFF commissioned a poll that found that about two-thirds of Idahoans support state-passed legislation that keeps the federal government from dictating whether Idahoans buy health insurance.

In January, Hoffman opined that state-passed health freedom legislation would be among a dozen "good ideas" that could be adopted by state lawmakers. The Idaho Freedom Foundation is a non-profit, non-partisan public policy research organization based in Boise.