Obamacare in Bellingham
From local
radio station KGMI:
Local life insurance company lays off 80 employees
Bellingham-based Sterling Life Insurance has laid off 80 people at its local office.
The Bellingham Herald reports the layoffs are due to an anticipated reduction in Medicare Advantage Enrollment - a product offered by the company.
Sterling employees about 500 workers here in Bellingham.
In good news - from
Wichita station KFDI:
Kansas AG Schmidt asks to join health care reform challenge
Kansas has formally asked to join a multi-state lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of last year's federal health care reform law.
Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt this morning sent a letter to Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi requesting Kansas be allowed to join the suit. The request was one of the first official acts of Schmidt, who was sworn in as Attorney General Monday. He said then he expected Kansas to join the suit this week.
Joining the challenge of federal health care reform was one of Schmidt's main campaign issues. He unseated Democratic incumbent Attorney General Steve six, who did not seek to join the lawsuit, arguing that doing so would waste taxpayer money.
�This lawsuit is about standing up for the rule of law and protecting the liberties guaranteed by our Constitution,� Schmidt said in a written statement this morning. �Our federal government is designed to be a government of limited, enumerated powers, and we do not believe it has the power to order citizens into commerce so it can then regulate their conduct under authority of the Commerce Clause. Whatever the merits or demerits of health care reform, the ends cannot justify an unconstitutional means.�
Schmidt's letter to Bondi requests that Florida file a motion in U.S. District Court in Pensacola, Fla., to allow Kansas to join the 20 other states that brought the lawsuit. A news release from Schmidt's office said Ohio, Wisconsin and Wyoming are also requesting to join the Florida lawsuit. Also plaintiffs in the lawsuit are the National Federation of Independent businesses and two individuals.
If Kansas and the other states are allowed to join the Florida lawsuit, the number of states challenging the constitutionality of health care reform will grow to 26. Twenty-four states are part of the Florida suit. Virginia and Oklahoma have filed separate action.
Calling the federal health care law an unprecedented power grab, Schmidt said he expects the states' challenge of the health care law to go all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.
The Enumerated Powers of the Federal Government and all that good stuff...
NOTE: I was running spellcheck and it wanted to replace "Obamacare" with "Obscure"
IE Spell rocks bigtime.
Posted by DaveH at January 13, 2011 2:29 PM