Belinfante Responds to Supreme Court's Healthcare Ruling

Josh Belinfante is a District 6 State Senate candidate.

The Supreme Court has rendered its decision. By one vote, it upheld the requirement that Americans purchase health insurance under Congress's power to tax.  As we have seen in other states and other countries, massive tax increases and burdensome regulations like those in Obamacare lead to fewer healthcare options and higher costs.  The decision will ultimately limit your choice of doctor, dentist, and hospital.  The cost of your health insurance will increase.  The United States as a whole will face $500 billion in tax increases.

Believing the law to be unconstitutional at the outset, I accepted the call to oppose it from Governor Perdue and, recently, from Attorney General Sam Olens.  As it turns out, the Court mostly agreed.  States cannot be compelled to dramatically expand their Medicaid programs, and the mandate was not authorized under the Commerce Clause. 

But make no mistake, this decision fundamentally alters the role of the federal government in our everyday lives; it undermines the limits of federalism that our founders held so dear. I strongly disagree with the Court's conclusion, but I respect our process. We must now focus on legislative and political solutions right here in Georgia.

Now more than ever, we need someone in the State Senate that not only understands this law, but also our state's Medicaid program and the $400 million deficit it faces.  The Court made clear that any decision by states to heed the siren call of expanding Medicaid as offered by the legislation will be saddled with the incredible burden that expansion imposes on taxpayers.  In this race, I alone have the experience, the background, and the determination to not only say "no" to the expansion, but also to be sure that Georgia lawmakers do not inadvertently do what the federal government now offers.

The time for choosing is upon us.  The stakes are as high as they have been in my lifetime.  I'm asking for your help to allow me to continue the fight against this legislation while also offering real, free-market healthcare policies that actually drive down costs and increase the number of covered individuals.  Please take a moment to consider the implications of today's decision and then contact our campaign. We need to be sure that Georgia does everything it can to minimize the impositions created by the President's legislation and the Court's decision. 

In our nation's capitol and under the Gold Dome, the cause continues.  The fight is not over.

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