By Alissa Smith
Virginia Statehouse News

RICHMOND — The debate over President Barack Obama’s health care reform law took center stage Tuesday, as opponents and proponents took their positions to the public arena.

While Virginia’s Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli was making opening arguments before the 4th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in his lawsuit against the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, protesters on both side of the issue mounted verbal campaigns outside the courthouse.

“Even after the state statute was passed and the lawsuit was filed, the state is moving forward together with the federal government to implement the Affordable Care Act. I think nothing that happened today is going to slow that down,” said Ron Pollack, executive director of Families USA, a nationwide nonprofit that works for quality and affordable health care for all Americans, according to its website.

But Tito Munoz, who owns and operates a small construction company in Prince William County, said the government should not interfere with how people choose to get health care.

“All of these policies that are presented by liberals, and progressives are policies that will destroy your liberties — are policies that will take control of your life. Those are the policies that I will fight, that I don’t want in my life. I came to America to be free and not to be dependent on the government,” Munoz said.

Munoz, who has been living in the United States for 30 years and is a naturalized citizen, said he was “born in Colombia, but made in America”.

Jenny Beth Martin, co-founder and national coordinator of the Tea Party Patriots, said the American people believe the health care law is wrong.

The Tea Party Patriots is a nonpartisan organization that works to educate citizens on fiscal responsibility, free market, and constitutionally limited government, according to its website.

“We have said that we would leave no stone unturned when it came to this and that we would do everything in our power, though our legislative and legal efforts, to overturn this law and that’s what we’re doing today,” Martin said. “We’re exercising those rights that have been given to us in our Constitution.”

Dell Erwin, of Charlottesville, cheered the national health plan, saying that the under the Obama health plan, her medication will be affordable after she reaches the limits of her Medicare Part D plan this summer.

Erwin also supports the Affordable Care Act, because her grandson, who had open-heart surgery this past year, cannot be denied medical insurance due to a pre-existing condition. And, she said, her college-aged granddaughter also is protected by the health care law, which allows her to stay on her parents’ insurance until age 26.

Like Erwin’s grandchildren, Larry Kim, a graduate student at the University of Virginia, said the the health care law allows him to stay on his parents’ insurance after college and prevents him from being denied coverage because of his pre-existing condition. At age 17, Kim had acute liver failure

“Everyone in their lifetime, at one point or another, is a consumer of our health care system,” Kim said. “The new health care law will help so many young people, like myself — people with pre-existing conditions, like myself — and virtually every American who will be a consumer of health care.”

Kevin Wilson, owner of two local restaurants — the Cellar Door and Sticky To-Go-Go — said he could afford to continue his employees’ health insurance under the new law, and with the federal tax credit for small business, he also was able to complete renovations.

“Last year my business received a tax credit for providing health insurance for those who qualified among my 25 employees,” Wilson said. “This has allowed me to reinvest in equipment and maintenance, which would have otherwise been impossible in this economy.”

Tim Phillips, president of Americans for Prosperity, argued that the health care law was a way to get government further into the private lives of the nation’s citizens.

“We want to make sure that the tradition of limited government in America is upheld,” Phillips said. “We are serious about protecting the Constitution of this great country, and so we’re going to fight.”

Americans for Prosperity is a national organization of citizens who work to advance the individual’s right to economic freedom and opportunity, according to its website.

Phillips added that he was thankful that Virginia had the first Attorney General to file a lawsuit against the health care law.

“I think this will go to the United States Supreme Court, and I think that the United States Supreme Court, in the end, will uphold our rights in this case and the ObamaCare provisions will be overturned,” Phillips said.

State Delegate Kathy Byron, R-Campbell, also spoke in favor of Cuccinelli’s lawsuit against the health care law, saying the health care debate can be settled in two ways: winning the court case or through the elections.

“Why is the federal government so willing to ignore the will of the American people? We had an election last year that spoke volumes on how the American people felt,” Byron said.

No date has been set for the court’s vote, though Cuccinelli said he hopes to hear back this summer.