Everyone should agree that it is highly desirable to have health insurance. That’s why many individuals buy insurance themselves and why many employers cooperate with employees to provide it. But it certainly is not a good idea for any level of government to “pass a law” to make people buy health insurance — or any other product, for that matter.
So that’s why the Tennessee Senate voted 26 to 1, with five abstaining, to require the state attorney general’s office to make a legal challenge against any federal legislation to make individual citizens buy health insurance. The sponsor of the bill, Sen. Mae Beavers, R-Mount Juliet, said the state bill “would not nullify any federal law” but “would simply acknowledge the right of individuals not to participate in a government-run health program.”
The one negative vote was cast by Sen. Andy Berke of Hamilton County, who viewed the bill as “political grandstanding.”
It is obviously a good idea for everyone to have medical insurance to meet important needs. It should be purchased by choice, individually or through employer-employee cooperation. But government should not require our people to buy anything.