To the Governor: West Virginia Senate Passes Bill to End State-Run Obamacare Exchange

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (April 6, 2017) – Yesterday, the West Virginia Senate unanimously passed a bill to shut down the state-run Obamacare health insurance exchange. If signed by Gov. Jim Justice, the legislation would take an important first step toward withdrawing the state from implementing the national healthcare program.

Rep. Joe Ellington (R-Princeton) sponsored House Bill 2119 (HB2119), The legislation would simply repeal provisions in West Virginia law establishing a health insurance exchange under the Affordable Care Act. That would leave the federal government to administer the insurance exchange on its own.

The Senate passed HB2199 by a 34-0 vote. The House previously approved the measure by a 68-31 vote. It will now head to Gov. Justice’s desk for his consideration.

At this point it appears highly unlikely the the Republicans will repeal the so-called Affordable Care Act. Even the recently-failed GOP scheme retained the insurance exchanges. Regardless of what Congress ultimately does, state actions can help completely bring down national healthcare schemes no matter what form they take.

Obamacare is predicated on state cooperation. By ending state actions that support the ACA or any future federal healthcare plan, and refusing to enforce any of their mandates, a state can make it nearly impossible to run national healthcare its borders. The federal government never intended to run the healthcare system alone, and ultimately, it can’t do it without state help. We’ve already seen the difficulties created for the Affordable Care Act by the number of states that simply refused to set up exchanges for the federal government.

Refusing to expand Medicaid or to set up an exchange are two essential steps states should take to facilitate an end to Obamacare or its so-called replacement. HF10 takes the very first step. That would set the stage for further action. Judge Andrew Napolitano noted that if a number of states were to refuse to participate with the ACA in a wholesale fashion, that multi-state action would “gut Obamacare.”

Napolitano said that if enough states follow suit, “it will gut ObamaCare because the federal government does not have the resources or the wherewithal […] to go into each of the individual states.”

WHAT’S NEXT

Gov. Justice will have five days from the date of transmittal to sign or veto HB2199. If you live in West Virginia, you should call the governor’s office and ask him to sign the legislation. You can find contact information HERE.

Tenth Amendment Center

The Tenth Amendment Center is a national think tank that works to preserve and protect the principles of strictly limited government through information, education, and activism. The center serves as a forum for the study and exploration of state and individual sovereignty issues, focusing primarily on the decentralization of federal government power as required by the Constitution. For more information visit the Tenth Amendment Center Blog.