JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Missouri voters Tuesday overwhelmingly rejected a key provision of President Barack Obama’s health care law, sending a clear message of discontent to Washington and Democrats fewer than 100 days before the midterm elections. With about 70 percent of the vote counted Tuesday, nearly three-quarters of voters had supported the measure.
Tuesday’s vote approving the ballot measure, known as Proposition C, was seen as largely symbolic because federal law generally trumps state law. But it was also seen as a sign of growing voter disillusionment with federal policies.
Missouri’s law prohibits the government from requiring people to have health insurance or from penalizing them for paying for their own health care. That would conflict with a federal requirement that most people have health insurance or face penalties starting in 2014.
Federal courts are expected to weigh in well before the insurance provision takes effect about whether the federal health care overhaul is constitutional. The Associated Press
