By Rick Pluta, Michigan Public Radio Network
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wkar/local-wkar-891106.mp3
LANSING, MI –
The debate over national health care was an issue Tuesday on the floor of the Michigan Senate.
AUDIO:
The Senate debated a proposed amendment to the state constitution that would allow Michigan residents to opt out of a national health care plan. Republicans such as Senator Wayne Kuipers say states should resist creating a large new federal bureaucracy.
"At the end of the day if they're successful in passing this, it will take over one-sixth of our federal economy," he says. "That should scare us all."
There's some question as to whether states could legally opt out of a federal system, but similar measures are being debated in 38 other states.
Democrats opposed what they called an effort to simply undermine national health care reform efforts. Without Democratic support, the measure could not win the two-thirds super-majority needed to put an amendment up for voter approval.