North Carolina may join others in opposing federal health care bill

North Carolina might soon join other states in taking action against the federal health care reform.

The N.C. House of Representatives judiciary committee passed a bill Thursday to block a provision of the legislation that requires people to buy health insurance to avoid facing penalty fees.

It was the first bill to pass a committee in the new GOP-led state legislature, taking priority over other issues such as job creation and the budget.

If the bill passes in the N.C. General Assembly, it could have a huge impact on UNC Hospitals because they would continue to lose money in uncompensated care.

UNC Hospitals has been looking toward health reform to increase the number of insured patients to curb its rising number of charity cases.

“What we’ve been concerned about from the beginning is that there are so many without health insurance who need it,” said UNC Hospitals spokeswoman Karen McCall. “Our health care finance system is broken down.”

But already-implemented programs might not be affected by the recent vote, so UNC students might not be impacted initially. Students will likely be able to remain covered by their parents’ insurance until they’re 26 years old, McCall said.

States challenging federal law is uncommon, but the health care legislation presents different implications, said Jordan Shaw, spokesman for House Speaker Rep. Thom Tillis, R-Mecklenburg.

“The federal health care bill was an overreach of federal authority that most of us have never seen before,” he said. “The rarity of the General Assembly action is a reaction to an unusual federal overreach which requires citizens to purchase a good or service.”

A federal law in conflict with a state law will generally upend state law, said Rep. Grier Martin, D-Wake.

“Because of the particular interaction in this particular law between state and national government, there is a little more of a window for them to argue,” he said.

Although he said he thinks the bill will pass, Martin is concerned this issue has been fast-tracked under the new legislation.

“It will pass, sending a pretty bad signal about where this General Assembly’s priorities are,” he said. “That partisan battles are ahead of jobs.”

The issue rests more on whether the reform is ultimately deemed unconstitutional rather than if it passes in North Carolina, said Sandra Greene, UNC health policy and management professor.

“If you remove the individual mandate, that really undermines all the other basic pieces of the health reform law that have to do with insurance,” she said.

If the provision passes through the state legislature, the next step will be to see what happens in U.S. Congress.

The Republican leadership in Congress promised constituents they would repeal health care reform.

“We can only control what the North Carolina General Assembly does, then wait and see what happens in Congress,” Shaw said.

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