The Hill News

Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) argued on Friday that under the Constitution the government cannot force consumers to buy health insurance and said he has joined a legal challenge of the individual mandate in Florida.

"This is not an activity, this is forcing people to buy something they may or may not want to buy and forcing them to buy a certain level of something that they may not want to buy also," Hatch told Fox News anchor Greta Van Susteren. "If the government can do that to us -- in other words, if Congress can do that to us, then there's nothing that the government can't do to us."

Hatch said there are currently 20 states contesting the individual mandate and he expects another ten states to join the effort before the end of the year as a result of the election. He also questioned the legality of the "job-killing" employer mandate and said he has filed legislation that would repeal both mandates.

"If we could pass those two bills, that mea! ns the Democrats are going to have to sit down with us and work out health care in a way that doesn't bankrupt the country, which is what their bill's going to do," Hatch said.

"And I don't know really anybody, including many Democrats, who won't admit that it's a disastrous bill. It's going to cost us way more than it's going to -- than it will benefit us. And in the end -- and in the end, it could bankrupt the country. It could certainly hurt this country very, very badly."

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