It's a nice change to see some health care news coming out of the Midwest.
We're always seeing headlines from those cutting-edge Northeasters, who apparently just love regulations almost as much as their own egos. And those laid-back left coasters? Never met a tax they didn't like. Either way, 90 percent of the news – the good, the bad and the ridiculous – rolls out of either side of the country.
So it was refreshing to see this morning's headline out of the typically quiet state of Missouri.
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(Full disclosure: I grew up in Kansas City – the Missouri side, thanks. Attended inner city schools and graduated from the University of Missouri. In fact, I covered the General Assembly down in Jefferson City as part of my j-school training. So, yeah, maybe I'm a little biased.)
At any rate, it looks like Show-Me State voters don't exactly take to being told what to do by a group of lawmakers who do little more than fly over their state on the way to another Hollywood fund-raiser. In a largely symbolic gesture, Missouri voters overwhelmingly rejected the Health Care Reform Law's insurance mandate provision, by a 71 percent to 29 percent margin.
By approving Proposition C, my home state voters have signed off on a state law in direct opposition to federal law. And, no, you're right; it probably doesn't stand a chance. I give it six months, tops, before it's overturned by one court or another. But the message these quiet Midwesterners sent is loud and clear: We have a problem with Obamacare.
And who knew we were such trendsetters? Similar referendums are already on the ballot in Oklahoma, Arizona and Florida. I don't know about you, but I'm sensing a momentum shift.
Maybe I can go home again…
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