Joining the chorus in other states, officials in both Idaho and Florida are staunchly protesting federal health insurance mandates for individuals and businesses.

Jim Clark

Rep. Jim Clark, a Republican for Idaho’s 3rd District, has proposed the Idaho Health Freedom Act, which finds that “Idaho is and shall continue to be free from government compulsion in the selection of health insurance options, and that such liberty is protected by the Constitutions of the United States and the State of Idaho,” according to the bill’s statement of purpose.

Meanwhile in Florida, the state’s attorney general, Bill McCollum, has determined that the individual mandate in federal health care legislation is unconstitutional.

In a five-page memo to leaders in both the U.S. House and Senate, McCollum notes that the Constitution establishes a limited federal government that protects the freedom of individuals and the rights of states, and that the individual mandate is contrary to that principle as it penalizes inactivity.

“Congress’s unprecedented mandate on every citizen to purchase health insurance coverage or to face a penalty raises serious constitutional concerns,” McCollum wrote. “The health care individual mandate provisions as currently drafted violate constitutional principles and lack constitutional authority for Congress to enact.”

McCollum added that if a federal mandate is approved and signed by the president, he will work with his fellow attorneys general across the U.S. “to pursue appropriate legal action.” He noted that several colleagues have expressed interest in joining Florida’s efforts should a suit go forward.

Exercising its ‘sovereign power’

According to the Idaho State Legislature website, its anti-mandates bill, HB 391, was introduced to the House State Affairs Committee, which is permitting it to be printed for consideration.

The four-page bill notes that since health insurance mandates are not outlined in the Constitution, “Idaho hereby exercises its sovereign power to declare the public policy of the state of Idaho regarding the right of all persons residing in the state of Idaho in choosing the mode of securing health care services.”

The proposed state legislation comes as Congress works to finalize a comprehensive health reform bill for passage in both the House and the Senate before seeking President Barack Obama’s signature as law.  In recent days, several state legislators have proposed similar protests of the proposed federal health insurance mandates, a move backed by House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio).

Clark’s bill states that “no public official, employee, or agent” of the state “shall act to impose, collect, enforce or effectuate any penalty in the state of Idaho that violates the public policy set forth.”

The proposed legislation also tasks Idaho’s attorney general with “seeking injunctive or other appropriate relief, or defending the state of Idaho and its officials and employees against laws, enacted by any government, which violate the policy,” and recognizes that it may cost the state an additional $100,000 for an additional attorney to take such action.

Three other members of the Idaho House, all Republicans, have signed on as co-sponsors of Clark’s bill.