1851 Center: beware of back-door Obamacare in Ohio

From the 1851 Center for Constitutional Law:

Two Years Ago: Obamacare Passed

Today: The US Supreme Court Hears Oral Arguments to Decide if Obamacare is Constitutional

With all attention on the Supreme Court, Ohio officials could quietly impose the mandate and restrict choice in Ohio through creating a state Obamacare exchange.

Ohio left-wing and Democratic Party front groups have recently ratcheted-up pressure on state officials to create an Obamacare exchange for Ohio. Meanwhile, it's unclear whether the Kasich Administration buys rhetoric that enacting its own Obamacare exchange will give Ohio increased flexibility.

But the issue should be a non-starter: Ohioans have already fought and won this battle. The Ohio Health Care Freedom Amendment prohibits Ohio from implementing Obamacare in Ohio through creating an exchange.

By creating an Obamacare exchange in Ohio, state government would be doing the following:

* indirectly compelling the forced purchase of government-defined health care insurance
* prohibiting Ohioans from choosing doctors and insurance plans of their choice
* imposing a host of new taxes and fees on Ohioans
* turning Ohio's health care markets over to the federal government
* gift-wrapping a victory for Obamacare by making it easier for the federal government to enforce in Ohio and elsewhere
* undermining the sincerity of Ohio's current Supreme Court challenge to Obamacare

"Any state that creates an Obamacare exchange is ultimately voluntarily choosing to enforce Obamacare and its mandates and restrictions on freedom of choice, while simultaneously reducing the chance that Obamacare will repealed or rewritten," according to 1851 Center Director Maurice Thompson in Does Ohio's Health Care Freedom Amendment Prohibit it from Imposing an Obamacare Exchange? Thompson suggests that legal action would be appropriate to stop the exchange, and that the 1851 Center may take it. Read the entire report here.

More information on this important topic is available at www.StoptheExchange.com, where Ohioans can directly share their feeling on this topic with the Kasich Administration.