Cynthia Davis: I was right on health care freedom

In her weekly report. Rep. Cynthia Davis, R-O'Fallon, a candidate for the Second District Senate seat, offers her assessment of Proposition C:

“Proposition C” is on the August ballot. If you vote next Tuesday, you will see a question of whether we should change the Missouri state statues to allow people the freedom to purchase or to not purchase the national medical insurance offerings. The current federal law will force everybody to buy some sort of insurance or face a penalty.


I was the first one to introduce this measure in the legislature. After my proposal passed out of the House, the Senate refused to take it up. This frustrated a lot of citizens because it became obvious that the senators were listening more to the lobbyists than to their constituents. Feeling the heat from the voters, the Senators threw together a “watered-down” fragment of the original resolution and shoved it back to the House with a “take it or leave it” attitude.

The version the House sent to the Senate would have changed the Missouri Constitution. The senate changed it to a referendum asking the voters if they want to change a state statute. The Constitution is supreme over the statutes and can only be changed by a vote of the people, whereas the statutes are changed ever year by the legislators.

I am supporting this measure, primarily because I believe in healthcare freedom. This will be a referendum on how Missouri voters feel. However, the state senators ought to be embarrassed for failing to offer their constituents a true constitutional amendment. The secretary of state’s office told me this will be costing the taxpayers about $300,000 to put it on the ballot and the price tag is the same whether it is an amendment to the constitution or merely a referendum on whether we ought to have a statute change.

Our nation was built on the principle that people ought to be free from the oppression of governmental intrusion into our lives. How we administrate our own medical expense payments ought to always be a personal choice. If our founding fathers could have seen the debates we are having today, they would be astounded!

Every time the legislature passes more insurance mandates, they are buying into the philosophy of the Obamacare proponents in Washington DC.

Insurance mandates are the opposite of Healthcare freedom. Here is a link to “The Show Me Institute” article written to demonstrate the damage done in the same session by trying to foist insurance mandates on us while at the same time attempting to get Healthcare Freedom into our constitution: Show-Me Institute - Negative Consequences

“Although well-intentioned, this mandate will necessarily raise the cost of premiums for Missourians, making it more difficult for individuals and small businesses to keep their health insurance plans…A mandate of any amount increases health insurance costs, and this bill’s substantial commitment would assuredly have a noticeable effect.” (Caitlin Hartsell researcher and public health graduate –Washington University)

As you can see, many legislators are philosophically conflicted. Therefore, it was nearly impossible to be both in favor of healthcare freedom and against it in the same session. Amazingly, most voted for both.