Manuse: Health Care Legislation Drafted by ALEC & Cato

The House today concurred with the Senate’s amended version of House Bill 1297. The bill prohibits New Hampshire from creating a state-run health care exchange, where consumers could compare and purchase insurance plans.

GOP/Free Stater Rep. Andrew Manuse, prime sponsor of the bill, confessed to USA Today that he had “help” from out-of-state organizations including the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank founded by Charles Koch, and the infamous corporate advocacy group, ALEC.

New Hampshire’s House passed a bill by Republican Rep. Andrew Manuse that would prohibit lawmakers from creating laws to enact exchanges. He said Cato and ALEC helped him draft his proposal. “Not setting up an exchange is the best way we can work toward making the law be amended or repealed,” Manuse said.

Cheryl Smith, who works with states to help them create exchanges, calls that a wrongheaded idea. “States need to set up legislation to protect themselves,” she warned.

“I’m a conservative and a Republican, but I still would not be willing to bet the farm on” the idea that the law will fail if states don’t create exchanges, Smith said. “When you work at a think-tank, it’s really easy to come up with these really high-risk plans.”

And to find willing lawmakers to do your bidding, she might have added. HB 1297 now heads to Gov. Lynch for his approval.