Parnell announces state will sue over health care reform

Alaska is joining 20 other states in a Florida lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of a federal health care reform package approved by Congress in March.

Gov. Sean Parnell said Alaska is entering the fight not to contest the health care reforms, but to stick up for state's rights and individual choice. Congress must not be allowed to expand its authority by requiring people to buy anything or face a penalty, he said.

"To me, that's a foundational, democratic interest of our country," Parnell said during a press conference in Juneau. "That's what I'm bent on establishing with joining the lawsuit. Health insurance at the price of freedom? No."

The Republican governor is seeking election this fall to the job he stepped into after Sarah Palin abruptly quit in July 2009. Alaska is well known as a state with a perennial hand out, one that takes in more federal money per resident than any other but loves to holler at Big Brother to back off when it comes to new rules.

During the Tuesday press conference, Parnell and Attorney General Dan Sullivan avoided opining on the federal package's other aspects, or on what sort of reform may be welcomed. Instead, they said the legal wrangling will stick to issues of constitutionality.

"Alaskans should understand this is not really about health care," Parnell said. "In fact, whether you support free market health care policies or universal coverage, we should lay that fight down for the moment and join together in what really is a battle for freedom."

At the heart of their concern is how far the feds are going to "exert power" over the states and individual liberties.

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act requires people to buy government-approved health insurance starting in 2014 or face a tax penalty of $695 per year or 2.5 percent of their annual income, whichever is greater. Along with Florida and the other states, Alaska will base its challenge on this: The U.S. Constitution's commerce clause prohibits Congress from requiring Americans to purchase a good or service.

"With the enactment of health care legislation the federal government has reached well beyond the scope of its authority -- it's reached into the lives and freedom of Alaskans," Parnell said.

He referenced a 48-page memo (PDF) produced by Sullivan's office, saying the legal opinion would be made available to all Alaskans because so much is at stake.

A few hours before the governor's press conference, state Sen. Hollis French, an Anchorage Democrat hoping to land the top job himself, posted this on Facebook:

"Rumor has it that Parnell will announce that Alaska is joining the lawsuit against the health care bill. Legally weak idea with no chance of succeeding."

In an interview, French said the state's participation in the lawsuit is "highly unfortunate" and pointed to a 1993 move by Republicans (PDF) to include an individual mandate in a national health care reform package.

His take? Single payer is the way to go, but an individual mandate may be what it takes.

Instead of wasting time and money on a federal challenge with little chances of success, French advocated a different approach.

"I think we should be spending our time and effort finding a way to cover the 115,000 Alaskans who do not have health insurance," he said.

Asked whether he's playing to the Republican base in filing the suit, Parnell said he wouldn't talk campaigning from the Capitol.

"I'm not going to speak to any campaigns out of these offices, but I can tell you that I have opposed the federal health care legislation from day one," he said.

Many of the states partnering in Florida's lawsuit have Republican governors or elected attorneys general vying for re-election this fall.