Tea Party Activists Tell Kentucky Lawmakers to Reject Obamacare

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As the 2013 Kentucky legislative session begins, Tea Party activists are encouraging lawmakers to abandon the implementation of the Affordable Care Act — also known as Obamacare — in the state because of fiscal and health care concerns.

About 50 activists rallied in the Capitol Rotunda Tuesday; they wanted their state legislators to hear their concerns as the 2013 legislative session began.

Kentucky can’t afford running its own health exchanges or to expand Medicaid, argued David Adams, a rally organizer.

“It doesn’t take a forensic accountant to look at our fiscal situation and realize that we have no business getting into this sandbox whatsoever,” Adams says.

Lexington businesswoman Kathy Gornik says the law puts too much bureaucracy between doctors and patients. And she advocated a return to a system that puts the patient in control.

“A return to free market principles, where the patient is the employer of the physician and the physician is obligated only to the patient,” she says.

So far, Kentucky has set up their own health exchanges under an executive order from Gov. Steve Beshear. But the governor has not decided on whether to expand Medicaid enrollment.