Joins 1,800 State Lawmakers in Nationwide Effort to Preserve States’ Rights; Stop Single-Payer Central Virginia – Delegate Christopher Peace signed onto an official letter from the American Legislative Exchange Council (www.alec.org ) to Congressional leaders, which was delivered on July 29, expressing the will of more than 1,800 state legislators opposing federal reform efforts—particularly, the Medicare-modeled “public plan” and a national health insurance exchange—which will trample states’ rights and lead Americans down the road to single-payer health care.
“My goal is to help educate and inform our community of the nationwide efforts working to send a message to those who wish to violate America’s first and founding principles. These Federal actions are eating away at the concept of state sovereignty expressed in the Tenth Amendment laid out by the Founders. We must remember Madison’s words ‘The powers delegated by the proposed Constitution to the federal government are few and defined,’” said Del. Christopher K. Peace (R-Central Virginia).
The members of ALEC—the nation’s largest nonpartisan, individual membership association of state legislators—recently approved the Resolution on Preserving States’ Rights Regarding Federal Health Insurance Exchanges and a Public Plan, which deems the federal public plan anti-competitive and calls the proposed national health insurance exchange a “federal takeover” of the states’ role in regulating health insurance.
“The government will never compete unless it can change the rules to win,” says Iowa Representative Linda Upmeyer, minority whip, family nurse practitioner, and chair of ALEC’s Health and Human Services Task Force. “It’s an unlevel playing field when a public plan can shift costs to our state’s private insurers because of low doctor and hospital reimbursement rates, and then raid the federal Treasury for unlimited subsidies,” she added.
In the ALEC letter to Congress, ALEC’s lawmakers criticized the federal push to shift health care decision making to Washington. “We all share the goal that patients deserve to choose their own quality, affordable, private health coverage,” the letter states. “But health reform shouldn’t just be the job of the federal government.”
The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) is the nation's largest nonpartisan, individual membership organization of state legislators.
Delegate Christopher K. Peace was elected to his second term representing the 97th District of the Virginia House of Delegates. The District includes parts of Hanover, Caroline, King William, King and Queen, Henrico, Spotsylvania Counties and all of New Kent County.
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