Dave Donaldson, APRN – Juneau
Governor Sean Parnell is looking at ways to bypass implementation of the federal health care act. He has requested advice from the state’s Attorney General on what steps he can take in response to a Florida federal court’s decision earlier this week that found the Affordable Care Act unconstitutional. Parnell says the decision in the litigation, to which Alaska was a party, requires him to follow his oath of office and support the Constitution.
Senate Judiciary Chairman Hollis French, a Democrat, disagrees, saying the governor is overreacting to a single ruling by a single federal district court judge. He says if the governor is opposed to the act itself, he has a duty to suggest alternatives to those aspects of the bill that people need.
Parnell is especially concerned with the “individual mandate” provision of the law that penalizes people who don’t buy insurance. He says he has not pursued that mandate and will not do so until he gets input from the attorney general.
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