news-record.com

State House and Senate Republicans said Tuesday they want to thwart one piece of federal health care reform. Sen. Phil Berger, an Eden Republican, and Rep. Paul “Skip” Stam, an Apex Republican, said they will push a state law that exempts any North Carolina resident from individual mandates to carry health coverage that are part of the federal bill.

“The crux of the bill will be that citizens in North Carolina … would not be compelled by the federal government to purchase a particular type of or particular amount of health care,” Berger said.

You can listen to him explain the package in the audio clip below.

Word has it that House Speaker Joe Hackney might have something to say about this later this afternoon.

Republicans are obviously hoping this will be a campaign issue. NC GOP Chairman Tom Fetzer was on hand today for the newser at the General Assembly building and there was much talk of “letting the voters decide” if Democrats, who control both chambers, don’t allow the measure in question to go forward.

I asked Berger whether he thought the issue would still resonate in 10 months when the November elections roll around. He said the Democrats are stuck if they do and equally stuck if they don’t.

If the bill does pass, Berger predicts constituents will be angry. If the bill doesn’t pass, “it’s going to resonate in a different way. Because I think that the base that the Democrats have relied on – all the air will go out from those folks. They’ll be very disheartened. So I think either way it goes, the consequences of the health care initiative will play out in this fall’s election.”