Las Vegas Sun

March 19, 2024

Sandoval calls on Congress to reform health care law to ease burden on states

Brian Sandoval

Brian Sandoval

The fight against the national health care law will now shift to the political arena, Nevada’s lead attorney on the issue said today in an interview on a conservative talk radio program.

Gov. Brian Sandoval, meanwhile, called on Congress to reform the law and “ease the serious burdens it places on the states and the nation’s businesses.”

Attorney Mark Hutchison, who took on the case for free, said on Alan Stock’s radio program this morning, “This allows for a political uprising in the next election. If the American people think they’ve been taxed too much, then they need to change.”

Stock, of Las Vegas radio station KDWN, called the decision a “bullet to the brain.”

Hutchison, who had not read the decision as of 7:50 a.m., expressed surprise that the Supreme Court upheld the mandate for insurance as a tax. Nevada joined 26 other states in opposing the law, but the state’s argument focused on whether Congress has the power to mandate health insurance under the commerce clause of the U.S. Constitution.

Sandoval said Congress “should act to reform this law and ease the serious burdens it places on the states and the nation’s businesses.”

He said Nevada “will prepare to meet the serious financial implication of this decision.

An analysis by the state in 2010 found that the law would cost the state $574 million between 2014 and 2019, mostly through increased Medicaid costs.

“The implications for Medicaid costs are still unclear, but Nevada will prepare to meet the serious financial implications of this decision,” Sandoval said.

Join the Discussion:

Check this out for a full explanation of our conversion to the LiveFyre commenting system and instructions on how to sign up for an account.

Full comments policy