Carcieri, Lynch Battle Over Health Care Reform
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Gov. Don Carcieri and Attorney General Patrick Lynch clashed yesterday over health care reform in what was their second public battle in less than a week over a hot-button political issue.
Last week, the two tussled over a bill that would move the state closer to having a wind farm off Block Island. Carcieri backed the bill, Lynch, who is a Democratic candidate for governor, did not.
Now, the two are at odds over the health care reform bill.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTYesterday, Carcieri called on Lynch to join 14 other states in suing the federal government over the constitutionality of the health care reform bill that passed Congress in March.
Lynch flat-out refused.
“To be all clear and with all due respect, I have no intention of filing a lawsuit against the recently enacted health-care reform law, for overarching reasons,” Lynch wrote in his response.
The 14-state complaint alleges that the new health care law is a violation of the Equal Protection Clause, the Commerce Clause, and the 10th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
Carcieri suggested that the new law is unconstitutional because it mandates that residents buy health insurance and that states participate in the new national health insurance exchange set up by the federal government.
“I call upon your office to exercise its discretion to protect our citizens from this unnecessary and probably unconstitutional intrusion of the federal government into the lives of Rhode Islanders whose freedoms to make their own choices about health care should be preserved and protected,” Carcieri wrote.
“The new law is not an attack or infringement on states' rights or the liberties of individual Americans,” Lynch retorted.
Lynch praised the law for fixing a “broken system” that he said has treated tens of thousands of Rhode Islanders like “second-class citizens” and burdened taxpayers with hundreds of billions of dollars in medical costs for the uninsured.
As for the lawsuit, Lynch dismissed it has having no merit and no chance of success. He said most constitutional scholars were on his side, including two conservatives—Charles Fried, U.S. Solicitor General under President Reagan, and former U.S. Circuit Court Judge Michael McConnell, who was nominated by President George W. Bush.
“Obviously, we have a fundamental disagreement over the role of government that is exemplified in the passage of this law, and we will have to agree to disagree respectfully, which I am doing with this letter,” Lynch concluded.
