In 2 days in MO, one measure on the primary ballot is Proposition C, which is basically a wingnut slap against President Obama's work on health care reform earlier this year. Unfortunately, it'll very likely pass with Tuesday's election. The NYT today has an article on it. Earlier articles from the Post-Dispatch also cover the issue, of course (links in main text below). However, to give credit where credit is due, on this story earlier was blogger WillyK at ShowMeProgress here. This diary basically piggy-backs off her work, as there doesn't seem to be much awareness of this issue on DK, that I can tell, as someone at Netroots Nation noted recently. More below the flip....
First, Prop C goes like this, from the MO Sec of State's page:
"Official Ballot Title:
Shall the Missouri Statutes be amended to:
* Deny the government authority to penalize citizens for refusing to purchase private health insurance or infringe upon the right to offer or accept direct payment for lawful healthcare services?
* Modify laws regarding the liquidation of certain domestic insurance companies?
It is estimated this proposal will have no immediate costs or savings to state or local governmental entities. However, because of the uncertain interaction of the proposal with implementation of the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, future costs to state governmental entities are unknown.
Fair Ballot Language:
A "yes" vote will amend Missouri law to deny the government authority to penalize citizens for refusing to purchase private health insurance or infringe upon the right to offer or accept direct payment for lawful healthcare services. The amendment will also modify laws regarding the liquidation of certain domestic insurance companies.
A "no" vote will not change the current Missouri law regarding private health insurance, lawful healthcare services, and the liquidation of certain domestic insurance companies."
One commenter noted in one of WillyK's earlier post:
"I went to the health care forum. Everyone seemed to want to ignore the vote here in Missouri next week.
At the big picture forum, someone asked about referendum and I mentioned Prop C next week and NO ONE, Markos, two people from the swing state project, knew anything about it.
It will not be pretty next Tuesday night, especially on Fox and hate radio."
Tony Messenger in the Post-Dispatch emphasized this point in this article from 7/23/10:
"There is little doubt in Missouri political circles that Proposition C is going to pass.
The initiative has no organized opposition. The largest turnout among the two major parties on primary day is expected to be among Republicans, who have more hotly contested primaries, including the race for state auditor and a crowded field in the 7th Congressional District race."
Messenger summarizes the initiative as follows:
"On paper, the vote seeks to change state law so that the federal government can't require an individual to buy health insurance. In reality, experts say the end result will be mostly symbolic, as the U.S. Constitution gives clear priority to federal laws over state laws."
However, we now move from reality to perception, where the latter can create the former:
'But that doesn't mean that the vote isn't full of political meaning.
"I think it will be marketed as a referendum on President Obama," said George Connor, chairman of the political science department at Missouri State University.
Missouri will be the first of several states — Arizona, Florida and Oklahoma are the others — to hold what amounts to a voter litmus test on the president's health care plan, and that makes the vote an important part of the midterm election strategy of the Republicans pushing it.
"What people will hear if Proposition C passes is that the people of Missouri voted against President Obama's health care plan," said Patrick Tuohey, campaign manager for Missourians for Health Care Freedom, one of the groups supporting the ballot initiative. "Come Aug. 4, that's how it's going to be presented."'
Basically, with the passage and signing of even the watered-down health care package earlier this year, the juice has gone out of the pro-HCR side, since we won, sort of. However, given the truism that it's much easier to kick a sandcastle down than to build one up (however flawed or ugly), the opposition in their state of Obama Derangement Syndrome hasn't rested, and sad to say, momentum is on their side in this case. Given the red-stateness of AZ and OK, even without knowing the details, it's a pretty sure guess even from a rank amateur like me that anti-HCR initiatives in those two states will pass in a walk.
Andrew Clark (again, found from WillyK's blog post) from PoliticsToday.com notes:
"If the Health Care Freedom Act passes in Missouri, especially by a large margin, the "repeal Obamacare" armada will be recharged. The Tea Party, conservative Republican candidates, and a plethora of advocacy groups will trumpet (and no doubt exaggerate) a huge victory against Obama's big-government agenda. The victory, of course, will be a mostly symbolic one, as courts usually rule that federal law trumps state law. In many ways what happens in Missouri may only be a small skirmish in the larger war to repeal Obamacare. However, a victory will provide a much needed morale boost to those who have been fighting for repeal since the day the legislation passed."
Jason Noble from the Kansas City Star here also quotes Professor Connor about the real target of this initiative:
'"This may be more of a referendum on Obama's policies writ large rather than on this particular issue," Connor said. "And, ultimately, the vote will be used as a marketing campaign. It’s not really about policy — it’s about politics."'
In addition, President Obama's job approval stats aren't so great here now, to put it kindly, per this earlier report also from Tony Messenger, partly due to the controversies over HCR. This situation impacts Robin Carnahan's standing in polls now as well, in her challenge to Roy Blunt to replace Kit Bond in the US Senate this fall. At this moment, it's not looking good for Robin and our side right now. Sack wrote about the situation in MO:
"The referendum on the measure, known as Proposition C, is seen as an organizational test for the Tea Party and like-minded conservatives in a swing state that President Obama lost narrowly in 2008 and that has since moved measurably away from him."
Score one for the MSM over DK on covering this issue (sorry, guys).
Interestingly (and again, thanks to WillyK for being on this), a flyer went out from Herb Kuhn, president of the Missouri Hospital Association, expressing opposition to Prop C, with this pragmatic part of the argument:
"The MHA Board of Trustees endorsed a voter education campaign on Proposition C because, regardless of the feelings about federal reform, Proposition C could have very real — and negative — implications for hospitals.
Under the Affordable Care Act, significant cuts are expected in Medicare and Disproportionate Share Hospital program payments as new programs expand access to commercial insurance and Medicaid. As a result, there would be an expected balance between the payment reductions and new payments through Medicaid and commercial insurers. Proposition C’s repudiation of an enforceable individual mandate could upset the equilibrium in the process.
Under the current plans for implementation, Missouri is expected to see a reduction of $2.5 billion in Medicare and Medicaid DSH and other Medicare funds throughout 10 years. Without an enforceable individual mandate, fewer individuals are likely to purchase coverage at a cost of approximately $500 million throughout 10 years. That’s right — Missouri’s hospitals could lose up to a half billion dollars through the loss of the individual mandate."
Obviously doing a diary on this issue this late in the game doesn't reflect well on our side here. For MO Dem voters, the situation is simple, to at least do some small thing against these nutbags: show up to the primary election on Tuesday, even if you don't have a clue who the candidates are in your local primary, and if nothing else, vote "No" on Prop C. Right now, everyone says it's going to win, and they're probably right. But at least we can cut the margin down. Voting may not be much, but right now, it's all we in MO have. I've e-mailed some of my Democratically-inclined friends, with the hope that they'll tell 2 friends (and so on, and so on....). I've gotten a little of positive response, which isn't much now, but one does what one can.
To be quite honest, WillyK is much more up on this issue than me, and I sort of feel queasy trying to steal her thunder, especially because she knows more about this than I do. But I urge you to follow her posts to keep up on this issue. I just wanted to get this out to a wider audience, since, in keeping with what WillyK and the one Netroots Nation attendee mentioned, this issue doesn't have much traction here at DK and on our side in general. I'm going to vote on Tuesday in the primary, and of course I'll vote "No" on it. My one vote won't stop it, but at least I'll have showed up. So it goes.