This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon, June 26, 2012 - Missouri Republicans are hammering at Gov. Jay Nixon over his assertion in Webster Groves earlier this week that he has “been pretty clear’’ that he opposes the federal mandate to require most Americans to purchase health insurance by 2014.
Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder and two of the Democratic governor’s GOP rivals – Dave Spence and Bill Randles – contended that Nixon has been anything but clear during the past three years of public debate over the issue.
They asserted that the governor is trying to be on the correct side of what Republicans predict will be a U.S. Supreme Court decision Thursday striking down the mandate.
Kinder cited Nixon’s refusal to join Kinder’s suit – or those filed by other states -- against the federal government over the Affordable Care Act. Randles pointed to the Nixon administration’s efforts, stymied by the General Assembly, to help put in place the state insurance exchange that is among the federal Act mandates, beginning in 2014.
Republicans also noted that Nixon publicly said little after Attorney General Chris Koster, a fellow Democrat, filed documents in one of the state health-care suits in which Koster questioned the constitutionality of the mandate, while supporting other provisions of the Affordable Care Act.
Spence’s campaign even accused the governor of “lying to Missourians regarding his position on Obamacare,” and called the governor to produce “one prior on-the-record comment, or letter, or speech, or email, or tweet, or FaceBook post or hand-written note, or message in a bottle” to back up his comment.
By Tuesday afternoon, the governor’s office had provided the Beacon with at least two such instances: the governor’s sit-down with the Kansas City Star’s editorial-page staff last February and, more recently, his comments last week to high-school youths attending Boys State in Warrensburg, Mo.
Nixon lays out mandate opposition at Boys State
During a question-answer session with students at Boys State, Nixon touched off applause when he said, “I don’t think you should have a federal law that orders people to buy insurance. I have never supported that.”
He had made a similar statement to Star journalists last winter, according to columnist Barb Shelly in a column published Tuesday. (Shelly did side with the GOP in questioning how “clear” the governor has been in highlighting his position.)
Nixon’s comments at Boys State were particularly expansive, for him, and dealt with a number of aspects regarding the Affordable Care Act and its perceived effects.
“Clearly, some of the insurance reforms are important and needed,” Nixon said. He singled out the federal measure’s provisions to bar insurance companies from imposing lifetime caps on medical payments or from dropping policy-holders who get sick.
He also praised the Affordable Care Act’s provision allowing children to remain on their parents’ policies until they turn 26 and decried a bill that almost got through the Missouri General Assembly that would have eliminated a longstanding state insurance program for the blind.
That said, Nixon told the students that it was best if states handle insurance, with some federal financial assistance.
He also asserted that the act’s legal limbo has “had some challenging effects. … A quarter of your economy waiting, wondering what to do next, what the rules will be.”
The governor predicted to the students that the health-care landscape will become clearer after the Supreme Court rules, which probably will be Thursday.
But Nixon’s GOP critics likely will continue to accuse him of being foggy on the subject.
