Print edition: 
TOPEKA — Supporters of a state constitutional amendment to block any federal requirement to buy health insurance packed a hearing Tuesday.
Senate Concurrent Resolution 1626 states that no Kansan or business in the state can be required to participate in a specific health care system or purchase health care. It also stipulates that health care providers may accept direct payments for medical care.
The resolution is needed to keep the federal government from infringing on the state's sovereignty, supporters told a joint meeting of the House Committee on Health and Human Services and the Senate Committee on Public Health and Welfare.
If the resolution passes by a two-thirds majority in both chambers, voters will consider the question in the November general election.
Wearing a blaze-orange vest — the color sported by many of the resolution's supporters — Richard Fry said that 35 other states have passed or are considering similar resolutions asking the federal government to respect the nation's 10th Amendment. The resolutions come in response to federal health care reform efforts.
The 10th Amendment states that powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution are reserved to the states.
Fry is listed as a chapter leader for the November Patriots, a grassroots organization that describes itself as "dedicated to returning our government to 'We the people.' "
Several speakers noted that Congress does not have the authority to mandate that citizens buy any service or good.
"While health insurance coverage for every person in Kansas is the ideal, mandating coverage is not desirable," said Richard Warner, a doctor and past president of the Kansas Medical Society.
Other speakers went further, suggesting the federal government pull out of health care all together — including eliminating Medicare and Medicaid, which provide health care coverage for seniors and people with low incomes. According to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the two programs encompassed 45 percent of national health expenditures in 2008.
Topeka resident Paul Degener suggested that Medicare — which he participates in — be phased out. The suggestion elicited nods of approval from several members of the audience.
"We should allow doctors to accept payment in chickens if they want," he said.
Approving the resolution would help preserve the rights of patients to be free of federal mandates and allow patients to contract directly with the doctor of their choice, said George Watson of Wichita, a doctor and president of the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons.
Watson said he did not contract with Medicare or any insurance company. Instead, his patients contract directly with him.
The resolution would not block federal health care reform, said Sen. Mary Pilcher Cook, R-Shawnee, one of its sponsors. Instead it would stipulate that Kansans can't be forced to participate in any health care system.
No vote was taken on the resolution.
