From ArgusLeader.com:

South Dakota’s role in a challenge to the federal health reform bill might help solve a legal question on the power of government, but it also might jeopardize a key source of money for making reform work.

South Dakota is one of 19 states arguing that the federal government has no authority to force citizens to buy health insurance, as the new law requires.

“If we allow the government to do this with health insurance, what’s to say they can’t make you buy any product?” asked Marty Jackley, state attorney general.

A hearing on whether the Constitution allows such a requirement, called the individual mandate, will be Sept. 14 in a federal courtroom in Florida.

Most Americans already have health coverage. Those who don’t must buy insurance beginning in 2014, at perhaps $2,000 to $3,000 a year, or else face annual penalties reaching $700 or more. The mandate will bring new money into the insurance pool to help pay for other elements of the reform.

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