The proposed Health Care Services charter amendment on the Nov. 6 ballot Amendment 1 is nothing more than a reminder that the Florida Legislature cares more about making political statements than about the health care needs of Floridians.

The measure has nothing to do with health care or services. The Legislature passed it in 2011 as an effort to exempt Floridians from the Affordable Care Acts requirement to buy health insurance. Since the Supreme Court upheld the mandate and the law, the amendment is moot. If the court had overturned the law, the amendment wouldnt have mattered. Legislators, however, knew the amendment was useless when they approved it.

Florida and 25 other states had filed suit against the Affordable Care Act, and there was never any doubt that the question of whether the federal government could compel individuals to buy insurance would be decided by the U.S. Supreme Court, not Florida voters. Federal law trumps state law.

The measures sponsors, Sen. Mike Haridopolos, R-Merritt Island and Rep. Scott Plakon, R-Longwood, arent investing any of their time and energy pushing for the ballot question. They have been, not surprisingly, silent on the issue. The Florida Chamber of Commerce, a key proponent of the proposed amendment, has just one sentence in its elections guide on the issue and also is not investing money to support it.

Unfortunately, taxpayers did have to invest money to advertise the measure, which will be meaningless even if it gets the necessary 60 percent majority.

Floridas legislators werent the only ones wasting voters time and money. Alabama and Wyoming have similar meaningless constitutional amendments on the ballot. Sixteen states have approved statutes or put constitutional amendments to limit or reject health care reform on their ballots since 2008.

A better response would be for the Legislature to worry that Florida has the third-highest rate of residents who lack health insurance. Nearly 4 million Floridians, or 21 percent of the state, are without health coverage.

Despite that, Gov. Rick Scott has said the state will not set up health insurance exchanges, as required by the health care law for individuals to buy coverage with government subsidies, or expand its Medicaid program to provide insurance to those making up to 133 percent of the poverty level. The federal government will set up the exchanges if the state wont. The Supreme Court ruling, however, made expanding Medicaid optional for the states. The expansion would provide health insurance for an additional 2 million Floridians.

The Post recommends a NO vote on Amendment 1, and urges Gov. Scott and the Legislature to focus on health care instead of political gamesmanship.

Rhonda Swan

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Editorial: Reject bogus ‘health services’ amendment