January 15,  2010

            Lansing - Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox today said that the request to remove the unfair provision known as the "Cornhusker Kickback" from federal health care legislation represents a "victory for taxpayers."

Nebraska Senator Ben Nelson today sent a letter to U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid reversing his position and asking that a deal he secured on Medicaid funding for his state be removed from the health care reform bill.

"The apparent death of the Cornhusker Kickback is a victory for taxpayers," said Cox.  "Michigan and 48 other states can only hope Senator Nelson isn't a day late and one-hundred-million dollars short.  Harry Reid should immediately comply."

The "Kickback," a provision in H.R. 3590, the massive health care bill approved on Christmas Eve by the United States Senate, allowed the State of Nebraska to avoid paying its fair share of an expansion of Medicaid by forcing taxpayers in states like Michigan to pick up the $100 million tab.

In December Cox joined a bi-partisan group of Attorneys General from across the country, opposing the kickback and demanding Congress remove the unfair provision or potentially face legal action.  Cox will now await Reid's decision before determining further action.

A letter sent last month by Cox and the task force demanded that Congress strip the Nebraska provision from the final national health care bill or potentially face a federal lawsuit because, in addition to violating the most basic and universally held notions of what is fair and just, the Attorneys General also believe this provision is inconsistent with protections afforded by the United States Constitution against arbitrary legislation.

The fundamental unfairness of H.R. 3590, the letter argued, may also give rise to claims under the due process, equal protection, privileges and immunities clauses and other provisions of the Constitution.    

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