Main Street

Don’t Forget About Issue 3

We’re beyond happy about the results of the Ohio vote on collective bargaining rights, as Issue 2 fell and Senate Bill 5 was repealed by a 28-point margin. But unfortunately, an even bigger majority of Ohioans voted yes on Issue 3, an attack on the Affordable Care Act that has dangerous unintended consequences for the Buckeye State’s health care system.

Also known as the “Health Care Freedom Amendment,” Issue 3 was put on the ballot by Tea Party activists who wanted to express their anger at the health care reform bill passed last year. It adds an amendment to the Ohio Constitution that says “no federal, state, or local law shall compel, directly or indirectly, any person, employer of health care provider to participate in a health care system.”

Maybe if the Tea Partiers spent less time talking about the U.S. Constitution and more time reading it, they would notice that Article VI gives federal law precedence over state law; so legally, Issue 3 is merely symbolic rejection of the Affordable Care Act. However, there exist other systems that rely on compulsory participation in a health care system: Workers compensation, COBRA, child support enforcement orders, school immunizations, and college-coverage requirements.

Other policies Ohioans rely on require the submission of health care data or information, which under Issue 3’s sloppy language are illegal: disease tracking, children’s medical records, court-ordered rehabilitation, and tax levies that raise funds for health-related programs.

When Issue 3 passed by a huge margin on Tuesday, how many people knew what they were voting for? More litigation, more paper work, and a possible invalidation of workers compensation and COBRA?

The Cleveland Plain-Dealer, which endorsed Issue 2 but rejected Issue 3, describes the newly passed constitutional amendment as a “time bomb.”

Part of that doubtless was Issue 3′s innocuous ballot language that purported to guarantee “freedom” to make health care choices. Everyone loves freedom. But the fine print on Issue 3 actually ties the hands of Ohioans to craft state-level reforms. Even worse, it guarantees uncertainty and litigation because its language appears to limit the state’s ability to act on almost any issue that involves health care or insurance.

Republican leaders in Ohio, however, are highlighting only the political significance of the vote. Ohio GOP Chairman Kevin Dewine gleefully told The Daily Record that “our formal rejection of Barack Obama’s signature domestic achievement only further underscores the uphill battle the president and Sherrod Brown presently face on their path to reelection in 2012.”

In Ohio as well as Washington, the priorities of Republican and Tea Party leaders are clear: political victory in 2012. The wave of litigation costs and complications that will fall of the shoulders of working Ohioans be damned.

Photo from Amphis d’@illeurs on Flickr, via Creative Commons.

Tags: Health Care, Issue 2, Ohio, SB5