McCollum Files Suit Against Health Care

Less than an hour after President Barack Obama signed new health care legislation into law, Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum announced that he had filed a lawsuit to block the measure. McCollum said, This law represents an unprecedented encroachment on the liberty of the American people, and I will pursue this litigation to the highest court if necessary.

McCollum filed suit against the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the U.S. Department of the Treasury and the U.S. Department of Labor in Pensacola in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida.

McCollum has been joined by a dozen other attorneys general in this suit. While McCollum said this was a bipartisan effort, the only Democrat who has agreed to join suit is AG Buddy Caldwell of Louisiana.

McCollum announced his lawsuit in Tallahassee with more than fifty Republicans from the House and the Senate, including incoming Senate President Mike Haridopolos, R-Merritt Island, and incoming House Speaker Dean Cannon, R-Winter Park, flanking him.

Secretary Thomas W. Arnold of the Agency for Health Care Administration represented the Crist administration at McCollums event. Arnold said the new law would cost Floridians $1.5 billion in new Medicaid expenses.

McCollum added, It will ultimately cost the state of Florida billions of dollars.