President of Florida State Senate Declares Obamacare a Disaster

In a report in Newsmax.com. Jeff Atwater, president of the Florida state senate, has a few unkind words about the new health care reform law.

“Obamacare is a disaster,” the candidate for Florida’s chief financial officer told Newsmax.TV.

“It will be catastrophic for Florida’s financial situation, for every hardworking Floridian who’s going to be tapped for more money to pay for all this.”

According to Atwater, 25 % of Florida’s budget already goes to Medicaid. The healthcare law could double the state’s enrollees in the program, so its portion of the budget could rise to 50 percent.

The federal government promises to pay for the Medicaid increase. But that just means Floridians will pay for it, Atwater added..

“They’re saying we’ll just tap more out of your income and send it to Washington to send it back to Tallahassee to create a government run health care program rather than the health care program that’s been working for you.”

Atwater supports Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum’s lawsuit against health care reform and thinks it will succeed. “The federal government shouldn’t be creating taxes or penalties on Americans for not buying products they want them to own.”

Arizona is on solid ground with its immigration law, Atwater says. “The first role of government is to protect its citizens and their property,” he said. “When the federal government fails miserably, Arizona had every right to provide a secure and safe environment for their citizens.”

Every state should have that right, he says.

This is just latest evidence of initial skirmishes going on between the states and the federal government over a variety of issues - immigration, the coming flood of 16 new Medicaid recipients; the financial burden of which will be borne by the states; the creation of health exchanges in the states; and the constitutionality of individual mandates.

What are the rights of states, and what is the right of the federal government? The Obama administration insists the rights of the national government takes precedence and confidently insists the courts will back that position.

The states are not so sure, and at least 20 state attorney generals are already challenging the government in court. As many as 38 stages may eventually go to court on this issue, and the predicted election of 33 to 35 Republican governors in November makes this possible. The rejection of the individual mandate, the cornerstone of Obamacare, by 71% of Missouri voters, though largely symbolic, is evidence of where the public sentiment lies.