Wyomingite's, You will have to vote on this in 2012!

I'm excited to introduce you to SJ2. This is a proposed amendment to the Wyoming Constitution. You can read the entire bill here.  It goes a little something like this;

"The adoption of this amendment will provide that the right to make health care decisions is reserved to the citizens of the state of Wyoming. It permits any person to pay and any health care provider to receive direct payment for services.  The amendment permits the legislature to place reasonable and necessary restrictions on health care consistent with the purposes of the Wyoming Constitution and provides that this state shall act to preserve these rights from undue government infringement."

I went to a meeting yesterday and we talked extensively about this amendment and what it means.  The first reason I really liked it; we had two attorneys in the meeting,  and they couldn't say exactly what it meant. They said it was confusing and poorly written.  My response... GOOD! I can't stand attorneys, and if they're confused then I would say this amendment is off to an "excellent start!"

One of my favorite things about this bill is that the primary sponsor is Senator Leslie Nutting from Cheyenne.

I think if you will read the entire bill you'll agree with me that there is nothing "Nutty" about it! In fact I think it is crystal clear and even though my lawyer friends say the language could keep this in front of the courts for years and years, I say, "You did good Senator Nutting!"

While I remember you sitting in the conference committee talking about how to nullify gay marriages and civil unions performed legally in other jurisdictions and you proclaimed "marriage is hard!" I'm so glad health care isn't, and that you were able to nail this one on the head!

In fact I'm inclined to agree with your colleague on the house side Representative Amy Edmonds who said something to the effect that the wording was sheer poetry! I agree!! And who doesn't love a good poem? Here's my favorite.... "roses is red. violets is purple. sugar is sweet and so is maple surple." I'll bet that's one of your favorites too!

Some in our group said your proposed constitutional amendment was a little contradictory in the way you summarize by saying you are protecting us from "undue government infringement." but just above that you say, "the legislature (can) place reasonable and necessary restrictions on health care."  Well I don't care about that either. The amazing insight, direction, and leadership the Wyoming Legislature showed over this last session just reaffirms to me that if my health were in jeopardy, you all are exactly who I would want to be calling the shots on whether I live or die!! After all, you're a retired nurse for God's sake, and I assume if you were in over your head you could call on John Barrasso for guidance.

I agree that health care should be left up to individuals and I sure hate the idea that the new Affordable Care Act would impact Wyoming by;

• giving coverage to 49,000 Wyoming citizens who currently don't have anything, 
• would eliminate preexisting coverage riders and exclusions on kids, 
• would allow adult children to remain on their parent's policies, 
• end life time maximums and phase out annual limits, 
• give us the right to appeal decisions we don't agree with, 
• no copays on preventative services, 
• and would close the donut hole in Medicare

After all, none of those things affect me personally, so I don't really care! I'm just glad to know that if I screw things up to badly, you'll be there to look after me!

You can count on me being a "YES" vote!

Jeran