Midwest Voices

Barb Shelly

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Lieutenant governors rush in where attorneys general fear to tread. Or something like that.

Missouri Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder today filed his long-promised lawsuit against health care reform. Among other things, he claims that the federal law “commandeers duly-elected state officials and compels them to enforce a federal regulatory health care scheme.”

Such bondage! Who knew?

The Republican lieutenant governor has three co-defendants, although as the Star’s Jefferson City correspondent, Jason Noble, notes on Prime Buzz, “They’re not exactly average Missourians.”

One plaintiff is Dale Morris of St. Louis County, who previously was a plaintiff in a legal action pushing a voter ID requirement in Missouri. Thor Hearne, Kinder lawyer in the health care lawsuit, also filed the voter ID action. According to the legal health reform law protest, Morris is a senior citizen with health problems and she wants the right to use Medicare Advantage — not guaranteed under the new law.

Another plaintiff, Julie Keathley, has joined the lawsuit on behalf of her young son, who is autistic. The lawsuit notes that the child will benefit from Missouri’s new law requiring insurers to pay for behavioral therapy for autistic children, but the federal health reform law has no such provision (even though the final requirements won’t be worked out for months). Keathley contends that the federal government will penalize Missourians for requiring benefits beyond those called for under the Affordable Care Act. Keathley is the widow of former Administration Commissioner Mike Keathley, an appointee of former GOP governor Matt Blunt.

The third plaintiff, Samantha Hill of Johnson County, Mo., is a young woman in her 20’s who is healthy and wants to purchase only a bare-bones insurance policy. She thinks the insurance mandate in the health care reform bill will interfere with that right. Hill is a campaign worker for Republican Congressional candidate Vicky Hartzler.

This appears to be a lawsuit on behalf of people who know what they want out of the health care system and are determined to fight for it. That’s fine, but what about the millions of Americans whose needs aren’t being met by our expensive, wasteful, inefficient health care system? Don’t expect Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder to stand up for them. Fortunately, President Obama and Democrats in the U.S. Congress were willing.

Kinder says the legal action will be paid for with private money raised through a nonprofit organization, Health Care In Action. A funny thing about this nonprofit — it seems to exist solely to talk about Kinder and his objections to being conscripted as a foot soldier in the federal health care regulatory scheme. The lieutenant governor hasn’t disclosed the financial donors yet. But he says he’s working on it.

I for one await further developments with baited breath.

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