This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon, Feb. 7, 2011 - Several top Missouri Republicans, including Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder and state House Speaker Steve Tilley, plan to announce an alternative approach this week for exempting Missouri from the federal health-care changes.
State Rep. Eric Burlison, R-Springfield, announced Monday that he "will file legislation calling for Missouri to join an interstate compact designed to return the responsibility and authority for regulating health care to the states."
Burlison plans to hold a news conference Tuesday in the state Capitol, where he will be joined by Tilley, Kinder and state Sen. Brian Nieves, R-Washington, who plans to sponsor similar legislation in the Senate.
National conservative groups for months have been advancing the compact idea as an alternative way to block the federal health-care changes that Congress and President Barack Obama approved a year ago. A number of states, primarily those controlled by Republicans, are considering such a move.
Under compacts, several states would forge agreements on health care issues -- including their opposition to the federal approach.
The hitch is that compacts require approval of Congress and the president. Some advocates say the approach could put pressure on Congress, and also could force action by the U.S. Supreme Court, which some conservatives support.
The interstate compact approach is part of the "states' rights'' view advanced by many conservatives. However, in the case of the federal health-care debate, the use of compacts also could run counter to some other GOP alternatives, such as national lawsuit restrictions and the right to sell health insurance across state lines.
As it stands, states regulate which insurance companies offer health coverage and what they offer. And health insurance sales are not allowed across state lines.
Kinder is awaiting judicial action on his lawsuit aimed at blocking the federal health-care changes.
